Objectives

To provide guidance to clinicians requesting a theatre slot for Planned Caesarean Birth

Audience

All healthcare workers, medical and midwifery staff responsible for requesting a theatre slot for a planned Caesarean Birth.

In GG&C, there is a central booking system for organising planned Caesarean births.  This is requested via the ‘referral’ tab in BadgerNet notes.

To ensure correct timing of the procedure by date, it is essential that a range of clinically acceptable dates is included in the request form.  Women who will require a specific date include

• Women with diabetes (on Insulin or Metformin) requiring steroids prior to birth
• Women with abnormally invasive Placenta
• Women with coagulation disorders requiring specific blood products
• Women where the fetus has an anomaly which requires specific timing of birth to facilitate neonatal care
• Women who require another surgeon to be specifically present at the delivery
• Women with complex issues who have required an MDT planning

The expectation is that there are 5 slots per theatre, per day.  Therefore, for planning of operating lists, it is essential to consider the anaesthetic and surgical time required for the procedure.  A guide for timing is included in Table 1.

This list is not exhaustive and the clinician must use their judgement to assign slots required.

Please remember to review any anaesthetic letter in Portal and Critical Alerts on BadgerNet as extra time may be required for specific anaesthetic issues.

Table 1: Specific Issues requiring additional operating time