Coronavirus Pre-Surgery

Please note that if you yourself are a Medical Professional undergoing your surgery at Berkeley Square Medical, please ensure you still read the full guidance of this page as some policies and protocol may be different to your respective NHS Hospital/Surgery Practice.

This Article has been designed to give you the full and clear guidance of information needed when undergoing any future surgery with the management and protection needed against Coronavirus COVID-19. Our policies and protocols at our hospital branch are extensive and exhaustive which include the clinical input of over 15 UK Plastic Surgeons, Consultant Anaesthetists, Nurses and Hospital Compliance Managers all representing Berkeley Square Medical | 64 Harley Street Hospital Branch. The below information is extracted as being relevant for the preparation of your treatment. 

Cases of Covid-19 first emerged in late 2019, when a perplexing illness was reported in Wuhan, China. The cause of the disease was soon confirmed as a new kind of coronavirus, and the infection has since spread to almost every country in the world and established itself as a global pandemic.

On 11 February 2020 the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that the official name would be Covid-19, a shortened version of coronavirus disease 2019. The WHO refers to the specific virus that causes this disease as the Covid-19 virus as referred to below.

There is a comprehensive list of policies and protocols that have been implemented and risk assessed to ensure that 64 Harley Street remains Covid-19 free and that our main objectives (listed above) can be continually achieved. You will be guided through these policies when arriving at the hospital. This is to ensure you are relaxed, but also aware of the measures in place to ensure your safety and wellbeing is protected at all times.

There are additional requirements further to those listed in your “Confirmation of Surgery” brochure that was emailed to you to confirm your treatment. 

These additional requirements include further preparation tests several days before your surgery, additional requirements of what to bring to the hospital, and additional consent and assessments forms that will need to be read and signed. Some of these new policies will now be considered some of the several new “Norms” in both NHS and private hospitals across the UK for the foreseeable future in healthcare. 

• You will now be required to undergo a COVID-19 throat swab test approx. 5-days before your surgery date. To Ensure you are COVID-19 negative before undergoing surgery, you will be required to attend an in-person COVID-19 test at our hospital or send a COVID-19 home test kit (if this has been provided to you) . Details of this will be sent 10-20 days before your surgery date. We strongly recommend you return home straight after your test and observe a period of isolation (if attending in-person) and only travel for essential reasons before the morning of your procedure.

• Additional items to bring to the Hospital – Please do not bring any jewellery of any kind to the hospital. You are now required to bring an additional easy-to-wear set of clothes and shoes that are washed and clean. Please ensure this is sealed in a bag (please do not bring hand luggage suitcases or wheeled trolleys). Upon changing into clinical garments for your procedure provided by us as normal, the clothes and shoes you traveled to and entered with into the hospital will be packed and sealed. These will not be re-opened or re-worn and you will take the sealed bag of original clothes home to wash and launder. Again, please ensure you pack easy-to-wear shoes and clothing that have been pre-washed and laundered so that you can change into these before leaving the hospital. 
• Currently, we will only accept you as the patient into the Hospital. friends and family are not permitted into any area of the hospital. They are able to drop you off outside the hospital and collect you (or accompany you in your chauffeur drive home). You are welcome to nominate a friend or family member who you would like us to call to keep you updated on your wellbeing and also your approximate discharge time after completing your treatment. This policy is for the added safety of all patients and clinical staff that enter the hospital. 
• All other requirements will be guided through on the date of your procedure in a step-by-step process. 

In accordance with national guidelines, your Surgeon, Mr Taimur Shoaib, as well as other plastic surgeons and Anaesthetists are registered on the Specialist Registrar with the General Medical Council (GMC) for their respective fields of medical specialisation. There are also members of:

• UK Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (UKAAPS)
• British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS)
• International Confederation for Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (IPRAS)
• International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS ) 
• American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS)

Both UK and Worldwide members of these associations have worked together to advance towards a safe and informed consenting process, so that any patients undergoing emergency surgery, reconstructive surgery or, in this case, cosmetic surgery, are fully informed of how Covid-19 can affect your wellbeing should you be Covid-19 positive at the time of being operated and the precautions taken to avoid this. 

In the email sent that provided the link to this page will contain two consenting forms that will need to be read in preparation for the day of your treatment.