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Theatres - Recovery

The Recovery Area is situated in Gynaecology Theatres, Liverpool Women’s Hospital. It is staffed by full trained nurses and we offer a 24 hour recovery service, but in the evenings and throughout the night this is done by on-call system.

Our main function is to care for patients following surgery and to ensure that they make a safe and full recovery from the anaesthetic.

We also ensure that they are comfortable and pain free and that their vital signs i.e.: blood pressure, pulse, respiration rate and oxygen saturation level are all satisfactory and that they are not bleeding from their operation site.

Due to the nature of some of the procedures carried out, some patients need a little counselling and advice. In some instances, patients tend to want to talk more than they normally would when they wake up from the anaesthetic. Sometimes we are unable to help them solve their problems or worries, but we have access to other areas in the hospital and can refer the patients to these. In actually fact, we are looking at the patient as a "whole" sometimes and not just as a patient in the operating theatre.

Once the patient is fully conscious and orientated, and their vital signs are stable, and they are comfortable
they are then discharged back to the ward.

Unless the anaesthetist requests to see the patient before they return to the ward, then the decision is usually made by the recovery nurse to discharge the patient back to the ward.

We also have a small recovery area in Obstetric Theatres which is also staffed by a trained nurse from 0900 hrs to 1800 hrs but only on weekdays. Here we care the patients who have given birth by caesarean section, but also patients who have come to theatre requiring surgery for any complications from the otherwise normal delivery of their baby.

Once again we are observing these patients’ vital signs etc. Many patients undergoing caesarean section, have a Spinal
Anaesthetic, so it is particularly important to monitor these patients and ensure that their condition is stable before discharging them back to the ward.