Endoscopy Patient’s Journey

Your journey with us begins by booking a consultation appointment with our Consultant Gastroenterologists or Surgeons or by being referred by your GP or another consultant.

The consultant will perform a clinical assessment, review your referral letter (if available), and request any necessary tests to help with your diagnosis.

After confirming the need for an Endoscopy procedure, you’ll be provided with information about the test through EIDO procedure leaflets, you can then decide on the day to schedule or we advise you to confirm within 72 hours. You may also sign the procedure consent form in the clinic and collect the laxatives for bowel preparation from our pharmacy on the day of consultation.

After confirming with your consultant’s secretary, please expect a call from our Reservations Team within 48-72 hours to finalize the booking and to send your appointment letter.

You will also be booked for a telephone pre-assessment, where an Endoscopy pre-assessment staff will ask questions about your health and help you prepare by providing more information such as what to expect during the procedure, what preparation is needed, what to do with the maintenance medications and the laxatives, sedation options and answering other questions you may have.

At your procedure day, please proceed to the reception desk at the main entrance. Our receptionist will check your details and procedure time while observing the updated COVID protocol. You will then be accompanied to the Day Care Unit (lower ground) or Cedar ward (1st floor) via lift access for admission.

Cedar Ward has 28 private rooms with lockers and en-suite toilets while the Day Care Unit is divided into two large areas to accommodate four male and four female cubicles, where curtains are used to provide private enclosures. There is also a refreshment counter, consent room, and designated male and female toilet facilities/wet rooms for both areas. Gender segregation is observed in the areas to protect patient’s dignity.

Patients are allowed to bring a companion if they are to be admitted in a private room while companions of patients going to the DCU can wait in the patient’s lounge.

*Due to a limited number of rooms and the need to prioritize high-risk patients, your request for a private room may not always be granted but please let us know at the time you speak to our reservations team or during your telephone pre-assessment.*

After being admitted, you will be provided with a menu to order what you’d like to eat after the procedure. Your consultant will visit to explain the procedure, answer any questions and ask you to sign or reconfirm the procedure consent.

To ensure patient safety, our Endoscopy team gather to do a brief discussion of the endoscopy list, highlighting patients’ ASA grade, allergies, medical comorbidities, indication and plan for the procedures before we start.

You will then be brought down to the anaesthetic room for IV cannula insertion and oxygen support (if you wish to be sedated) before we take you inside the procedure room. The team will do a SIGN-IN to complete the Endoscopy safety checklist then assist you towards the proper position while the consultant will give the sedation before he/she begins with your procedure.

It is our goal to preserve your dignity and avoid interruption of procedures, hence, signs are posted to restrict anyone from entering the room while your procedure is ongoing.

After the procedure is finished, you will be asked to give your comfort score for the procedure. The team then does a SIGN-OUT to confirm the procedure done, sedation given, specimens taken, patient’s comfort score and any issues encountered. Your consultant will complete your Endoscopy report with follow-up details and prescribe medication if needed while our circulating staff will ensure complete and proper documentation and send a copy of the report to your GP.

You will be transferred to recover at the DCU or at the recovery room. We will monitor you until your observations are stable and offer you a drink and a meal as soon as possible.

Your consultant will discuss the Endoscopy report and answer any questions. The health care staff will book your follow-up which can be via telephone or face-to-face in the clinic.

If you had any biopsies, the histology report should come back in 10 days and this will be discussed during your follow-up.

You will be discharged with the Endoscopy report with follow-up details and discharge instructions with the necessary contact numbers.

Images:
1. A private en-suite room in Cedar Ward
2. Day Care Unit
3. Waiting lounge
4. Endoscopy Theatre, The Holly Hospital
5. Recovery Room, The Holly Hospital