Having surgery during the coronavirus pandemic

Surgical treatment

The consultant looking after you has recommended a surgical treatment for your child.

The options for both managing your child’s condition with or without an operation will have been discussed with you along with their potential benefits and drawbacks including those of delaying surgery at this time. We want you to be fully informed of the risks and benefits of the operation itself, and you should also be aware of additional risks that have been identified during the coronavirus pandemic.

Additional precautions

We will need you and your child to take certain additional precautions such as swab testing. Our nursing staff and waiting list coordinators will advise you about this.

We want to assure you that in line with the most recent national healthcare guidance, every reasonable precaution will be taken to minimise the transmission of coronavirus including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), social distancing and enhanced cleaning. You will also notice that all our staff are wearing masks in the hospital.

Important facts

However, we do need to make you aware of the following important facts regarding your care:

• We cannot guarantee that other patients or the team looking after you in hospital (such as doctors, nurses and support staff) are not carriers or affected by coronavirus.
• There is evidence in adults that getting coronavirus around the time of operation increases the chance of developing a serious form of the illness. Whilst we know that in general, children experience a less severe form of the disease than seen in adults you will need to weigh this risk against the potential benefits of the surgery and the implications for your child of not having surgery at this time.
• We will make every effort to continue to deliver our usual high standard of patient care but the coronavirus pandemic has affected every organisation’s normal functions and resources. This may affect the experience for you and your child.