Services & Departments

The Preadmission Service prepares patients for their admission for elective surgery. It aims to ensure patients are admitted in the best possible state of health, with all tests completed prior to admission to hospital.

Our main office is located within the Outpatients Department (OPD), Bellerine Centre, level 3 of University Hospital Geelong. Once the decision for surgery is made, patients are required to complete a health questionnaire, from which the preadmission nurse will determine whether the patient requires any appointments or tests prior to being admitted for surgery.

If the decision for surgery is made in OPD, the doctor will give you this form, and it should be taken directly to the Preadmission Service. Here a nurse may confirm some details on the letter, and where applicable, will give you a letter about your admission. It is vital that the health questionnaire is returned to the Preadmission Service as soon as possible, to ensure that the process will run smoothly. You may be booked for surgery when the decision for surgery is made, or you may be placed on the elective surgery waiting list.

If you have been placed on the waiting list, you will receive a call from the waiting list staff once the doctors have allocated a date for your surgery.

Following this will be a letter outlining your admission instructions, including appointments and tests. You may be required to see an anaesthetist or a surgical doctor prior to your surgery.

These appointments are held in the Preadmission Clinic, located on level 3, near the admission office. If you are unable to attend these appointments for any reason, you should phone 4215 1627 to make alternate arrangements. Please note that some doctors are only in the clinics for one session per week, and as such we may be unable to change the appointment day.

The preadmission nurses will send you a letter with your admission instructions, appointments, test requests, and education material about the anaesthetic and the procedure you are having.