GENERAL PREOPERATIVE PREPARATION

Get ready for your surgery

When should I stop eating? Which medicines should I take in the morning? Use these points to prepare and confirm your plan with your surgical and anaesthesia team.

For adults having planned surgery with anaesthesia or sedation. Your individual team instructions take priority. Children, emergencies, pregnancy and delayed stomach emptying need a different plan.

Patient guides

Sources checked: 25 October 2026

Usual fasting: food and drinks are different

These are usual minimum intervals for adults at low risk of regurgitation, after confirmation by the anaesthesia team. Count back from anaesthesia, not hospital arrival.

8+hours

Fatty meals or meat

Fried or fatty food and meat: at least 8 hours; some meals need longer.

6hours

A light meal or milk

For example, plain toast. Milk, meal replacements and protein shakes are not clear liquids.

2hours

Permitted clear liquids

For example water, tea without milk, filtered black coffee without grounds, or pulp-free clear juice, if your team allows.

Do not extend your fast yourself or assume everyone must stop at midnight. If the operation time changes, ask for new cutoffs. After the drinking cutoff, take nothing except medicines specifically allowed by the anaesthesia team with the instructed sip of water.

Taking Mounjaro or Ozempic? Have delayed stomach emptying, vomiting or suspected obstruction? Do not rely on these numbers alone; confirm your separate plan below.

Mounjaro and related weight-loss or diabetes medicines

Mounjaro / tirzepatide · Ozempic / Wegovy / semaglutide · Saxenda / liraglutide

Tell your team early: medicine name, dose and last injection, even if used only for weight management.
Report recent treatment initiation or dose increases, nausea, vomiting, bloating, constipation or abdominal pain. These medicines can slow stomach emptying.
Most patients may continue under recent guidance, but decisions are individual. Do not automatically skip a week or change the dose yourself.
You may be asked to have clear liquids only for 24 hours before surgery. Protocols differ: obtain written times for your last food and last drink, plus a diabetes plan if needed.
With symptoms or a higher risk of retained food, the team may adjust anaesthesia or postpone planned surgery. Tell them before attending.

Blood thinners: there is no single stop time

Do not stop blood thinners or aspirin yourself, or replace them with injections. Request a written last-dose and restart plan well in advance.

Antiplatelet medicines

Aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix), ticagrelor and prasugrel. Aspirin may continue for many procedures; the decision balances bleeding and clotting risks.

Anticoagulants

Warfarin, apixaban (Eliquis), rivaroxaban (Xarelto), dabigatran, edoxaban and heparin/enoxaparin injections. Timing depends on the drug, dose, kidney function and procedure.

Blood pressure medicines: what about the morning dose?

Provide full medicine names or photographs of the boxes, including combination tablets. Take only medicines your team has confirmed, with the instructed sip of water.

Usually continued

Established beta blockers such as bisoprolol or metoprolol, and amlodipine alone, are usually continued that morning unless your team changes the plan. Do not start a new blood pressure medicine yourself on surgery day.

A medicine-specific decision

ACE inhibitors/ARBs such as ramipril, perindopril, enalapril, losartan or valsartan may be withheld in selected hypertension cases to reduce low blood pressure during surgery. Heart-failure treatment may continue. There is no universal rule.

Diuretics and combination tablets

Furosemide, indapamide or spironolactone need instructions based on the medicine, its purpose, fluid balance and kidney function. A combination tablet may need adjustment even when one ingredient normally continues.

Diabetes medicines and insulin

Plan early for SGLT2 medicines

Dapagliflozin, empagliflozin and canagliflozin are usually paused at least 3 days before planned surgery; ertugliflozin needs 4 days. This includes use for heart failure. Confirm your last dose and restart plan. If your operation is sooner, contact the team now.

Insulin and other diabetes medicines

Get a written dosing and glucose-monitoring plan for fasting. People with type 1 diabetes must not completely omit basal insulin. Metformin and other tablets require the hospital’s instructions; do not copy someone else’s doses.

A simple hospital checklist

Pack your medicine and allergy list, and the reports and tests requested by your team.
Report previous anaesthetic problems in you or your family, snoring/sleep apnoea, and any possibility of pregnancy. Bring your prescribed CPAP.
Report fever, a new cough, vomiting, chest pain or breathlessness. Severe symptoms need urgent care, not a booking reply.
Stop smoking early and maintain suitable activity and nutrition. Do not start new supplements or herbal products; tell the team what you use.
Bathe as instructed and do not shave the operation area yourself. Wear comfortable clothes and follow instructions about jewellery and contact lenses.
Arrange an adult escort home and support after anaesthesia. Follow the team’s driving instructions.
Use bowel preparation or a bariatric preparation diet only when prescribed. These do not replace anaesthetic fasting.
If you eat or drink after your cutoff, or take a medicine contrary to the plan, tell the team before anaesthesia.

My confirmed plan

Print these spaces and ask your team to complete them. Do not calculate your own deadlines if you need a special plan. This page does not store medical information.

Operation date / hospital

Arrival time

Last solid food

Last permitted drink / type

Mounjaro / special liquid plan

Surgery-morning medicines

Last blood thinner / restart

Diabetes and insulin plan

Confirmed by / date

Before leaving home

I understand my fasting and medication plan.My requested reports and medicines are ready.My escort and journey home are arranged.

Unsure about your instructions?

Contact your surgical or anaesthesia team before your procedure. Do not rely on a delayed reply to decide a dose or fasting time on surgery day.

Call the clinic · 01039274004 All contact options

Bariatric preparation includes additional dietary instructions ↗

Medical sources and guideline notes

Guidelines differ in some details, particularly GLP-1 medicines, fluid cutoffs and blood pressure drugs. Different fasting protocols have not been combined into a single rule. Your anaesthesia team selects the protocol for you.

https://drfadybarbary.com/en/preoperative-preparation