MINOR SURGERY

Thank for you for attending your minor surgery appointment at Ombersley Medical Centre.

The following information is the general advice following a minor surgery in a General Practice setting. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via email: ombersleymedicalcentre@nhs.net or online by clicking here.

Following your minor surgery, you will most likely have a dressing over your surgical wound (there are some exceptions, including wounds on scalps and some other areas of the body).

The purpose of dressings are:

-          Absorb any leakage from the wound
-          Provides ideal condition for wound healing
-          Protects the area until wound healing has occurred
-          Prevents stitches catching on clothing (if applicable)

General dressing advice and wound advice

• Please avoid getting your wound and dressing wet for 3 days post surgery. This helps to reduce the risk of infection and allows the initial wound healing to happen. We advise washing around the wound rather than showering or soaking in a bath. After this time frame, please continue as normal

• Your dressing will likely start to come off on it’s own accord after about 7 days, it is then safe to remove the dressing at home. If it falls off before then please contact the surgery and we can provide replacement dressings.

• If you have stitches, you should have been advised on booking a stitch removal appointment with one of our Practice Nursing team here at the surgery (or at your local surgery for inter-practice referrals). If you haven’t booked an appointment or are unsure on when to book this please contact the surgery via email: ombersleymedicalcentre@nhs.net or online by clicking here.

For those who are attending a stitch removal appointment, once the stitches have been removed, your practice nurse will apply some simple micropore tape over the wound (please advise us of any allergies) and will advise you to continue this for 3 months to improve wound strength and healing. More information on this will follow at your practice nurse appointment.

We also advise after this point regular moisturising of the wound or application of products such as bio oil to help with scarring.

Wound infections can happen. The chances of this are higher if you smoke or have diabetes. If you notice any of the following please book an appointment with the practice nurse:

o   Redness especially if spreading from the site of your surgery
o   Increased discharge/weeping
o   Unpleasant smell from your wound
o   Bleeding
o   Increased pain
o   Increasing swelling
o   Fever or feeling unwell

 Your histology results

At the point of your minor surgery appointment, the GP will have sent any lesions removed for histology at the hospital. This is the process of when skin lesions are examined closely under a microscope to establish a diagnosis by looking at the anatomy of the cells seen within the tissue sample. This will allow us to confirm the diagnosis of your skin lesions. This process can take anywhere from 2-5 weeks.

The GP who has performed your minor surgery may also contact you via text/phone/email to inform you of your results and, if on the rare occasion, any further action is needed.

We audit our minor surgery service at Ombersley Medical Centre annually to ensure we continue to provide the highest standard of care

If you have an feedback on our service please contact us at the surgery, as all feedback if greatly welcomed.