Fasting

The hospital should give you clear instructions about fasting. Please follow these strictly, as failure to comply risks having your surgery cancelled. The general rule is no food 6 hours before surgery, but you may drink small amounts of water (maximum 200 ml per hour) up until 2 hours before surgery. If your surgery is in the morning you must not eat or drink anything after midnight. If your surgery is scheduled for the afternoon then you may have a light breakfast before 7am and you may drink water only until 10am. In children sometimes clear fluids (water/apple juice and other fruit juices - not milk) are allowed up to one to two hours before, especially in young children. Food coming up from the stomach into the ​lungs during an anaesthetic can be a life threatening complication so it important to fast properly .

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Your normal medicines

As a general You should continue to take your normal medicines up to and including the day of surgery, unless your anaesthetist or surgeon has asked you not to. Some drugs should always be discussed with your Anaesthetist: 

Ozempic

Blood thinners  such as clopidigrel (Plavix, Iscover), warfarin

Diabetic drugs - dapagliflozin (Forxiga, Qtern or Xigduo XR) and empagliflozin (Jardiance, Jardiamet or Glyxambi) or Insulin. 

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Please see our frequently asked questions page for more preoperative information .

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