Assess days ahead
Not on the morning of the list.
Why the list got cancelled at seven in the morning
Because nobody reviewed the medication list until the patient was already fasting.
How we work
The assessment is the safety margin
Same-day cancellations are mostly failures of timing rather than of medicine. An anticoagulant, a recently started weight-loss medication, undiagnosed sleep apnoea, a difficult airway — each is manageable when found a week out and each stops a list when found at seven in the morning.
Patient selection matters more again in office-based settings. The question is never only whether a procedure can be done there, but whether this particular patient should have it done there, given the equipment, the staffing and how long a transfer would take. Declining a case is sometimes the most useful thing an anesthesia provider does.
And consent has to be real. Anesthesia risk is small and not zero, and the rare serious risks are precisely the ones a patient is entitled to hear about before agreeing. A consent conversation held properly takes a few minutes and is not a form handed over on a trolley.
Our principles
Three beliefs behind the method
Check the kit every list
Including what you hope never to open.
Decline unsuitable cases
Setting and patient must match.
Looking for cover?
Tell us about the facility and case mix. We reply within two business days.