Admission and Pre-assessment Unit, Sutton
The Admission and Pre-assessment Unit (APU) provides a pre-operative assessment clinic and an inpatient admissions service.
Location, directions and parking
The APU is located on the ground floor of the hospital in the East Wing.
Facilities for disabled patients and visitors
We’ve worked with AccessAble to create accessibility information for the APU.
Find out more about facilities for disabled patients and visitors at The Royal Marsden
Opening times and visitors
The APU is open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Patients are welcome to bring a family member or friend to accompany them when attending the APU.
Food and drink
There are no facilities to provide refreshments on the APU, but there is a cafe and a restaurant at the hospital.
Pre-operative assessment clinic
The pre-operative assessment clinic is a nurse-led clinic and plays an important part in the preparation for your surgery. It includes an assessment of your general health and fitness before surgery by carrying out various tests and investigations.
Depending on the complexity of your planned surgery, pre-assessment can take place at a face-to-face meeting or via telephone assessment.
If you have more complex medical issues you may be seen in a clinic led by an anaesthetic consultant.
A pre-operative assessment appointment can take up to two hours.
Find out more about surgical pre-assessment.
Inpatient admissions and discharge
APU also assists patients coming into the hospital for an inpatient stay.
If you are a surgical patient or you have been asked to arrive at 7.30am, please go straight to your ward. All other inpatients should contact the APU after 10.30am to check that a bed is available.
We ask inpatients to leave by 10am on the day they are discharged from hospital. If you have to wait at the hospital for transport or to collect medications, you may be asked to wait in your ward's day room.
Your inpatient stay
Find out more elsewhere on this website:
- Inpatient care
- Emergency admissions
- Contact with friends and family
- What to bring with you
- How to recognise different types of staff by their uniform
- We ask patients to leave the ward by 10am on the day they are discharged.
APU staff
The clinical site practitioners and nurses working on APU have a firm knowledge and understanding of cancer nursing and are expertly skilled in a number of clinical procedures, such as:
- pre-assessment telephone and face-to-face triage
- taking blood (phlebotomy)
- inserting a fine tube into a vein (cannulation)
- giving medications, fluids and various blood products into a vein
- ECG (echocardiogram).
They also have advanced assessment and diagnostic skills, enabling them to review patients and start early goal directed treatment (EGDT) for better patient outcomes.
They work closely with other members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team ensuring safe and optimum care is provided within the unit and organising additional appointments for investigations as required.
The matrons are Ali Hodge and Caro Watts, and the sister is Anna Buckle.
Contact details
Tel: 020 8661 3380 or 020 8661 3379