Fees and Charges
All outstanding fees and payments related to Dr Timperley and your operation must be paid at the time of booking surgery. Individual hospitals and anaesthetists have independent billing arrangements – please contact them directly prior to surgery.
It is vital that you check with your Health Fund to ensure you are covered prior to surgery. If you are not covered, you will be liable for the hospital costs.
Most surgical procedures have item numbers associated with them, which will be provided on your quote for surgery. You will need them when you call your health fund, hospital and anaesthetist – if you are unsure about this, please ask our staff.
Medications, Supplements and Bleeding
Medications which increase the risk of bleeding include Aspirin, Plavix (Clopidigrel), Warfarin, Xarelto (Rivaroxiban), Brilinta (Ticagrelor) and to a lesser extent nonsteroidal anti inflammatories (NSAIDs) such as Nurofen and Voltaren.
If you are on any of these medications please discuss this with your surgeon – generally they will need to be stopped prior to surgery, but depending on why you are taking them, you may need other medication in the interim.
There are a wide range of supplements and herbs which have a proven or potential effect on bleeding including fish oil, garlic, St John’s wort and vitamin E. However at least 40 other herbal remedies also potentially affect bleeding and all should be stopped 2 weeks prior to surgery.
Scans and X-rays
If you have relevant scans, make sure you bring them to the hospital, particularly for sinus surgery. If the scans aren’t available for sinus surgery, surgery may be cancelled. Many scans are now accessible online, but not all, so if you have physical copies of the films or a disc, please bring it with you.
Admission times and fasting
The hospital will contact you the day before surgery with an admission time and instructions for fasting. If you are having a general anaesthetic or sedation and the stomach isn’t empty, there is a risk of aspiration of stomach contents into the lungs. For this reason, if you or your child are not fasted, surgery may be delayed or cancelled.