If you are scheduled for surgery, it is important to know that there are health conditions that need to be under control to avoid any cancellation of your operation. If you aren’t having surgery, maintaining good overall health will support you in improving your overall wellbeing.

Poorly controlled diabetes

There is a cut off for elective surgery of 69mmol/mol for the Hba1c, the specialists are strict with this as it is so important for you to be in the best possible health before your surgery.

Poorly controlled hypertension

There is a little flexibility with this one but the upper parameter we use is 160/90, maintaining good blood pressure can be helped by increasing activity levels and losing weight

Urine infections

If the patient has a positive urine culture and the surgeon is unhappy to proceed their surgery could be cancelled. All patients with frequent UTI’s should monitor this in the run-up to surgery. We check in pre-assessment, but if we’re seeing them very close to the day of surgery there might not be enough time to get a prescription.

Basically, any long-term health conditions need to be in good order before proceeding with an anaesthetic to be deemed safe. The more proactive you are in taking ownership of your own health the better.

The last thing anyone wants is for surgery to be cancelled or for your physical health to decline. If you can monitor your own health with support from your Health Coach this will have a positive impact on you and ensure you can receive your specialist treatment when it’s your turn.