Surgical Ambulatory Care Unit (SACU)
What we do
The Surgical Ambulatory Care Unit (SACU) is a referral-only, surgical same-day emergency service delivered by a dedicated team of senior clinicians and nurses.
We aim to provide rapid access to assessment, diagnosis and treatment outside of the emergency department for stable ambulant surgical patients on the same day of arrival. We hope to avoid you being admitted to the hospital as an inpatient and, if clinically safe to do so, you will go home on the same day of arrival.
Our surgical specialties include:
- Colorectal Surgery
- General Surgery
- Gynaecology
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
- Orthopaedics
- Trauma Surgery
- Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery
- Urology
Preparing for your visit
Patients from Emergency Department (ED) or Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC)
If you visited ED overnight and have been asked to attend SACU for a review the following day, please attend promptly in the morning between 9am and 10.30am, unless you have received a text message confirming the exact time of your appointment. We will have basic knowledge of your background and the reason for your referral. We may carry out repeat tests and planned investigations.
If you have been scheduled for an ultrasound scan, please do not eat or drink anything other than water in the morning before your appointment as this will cause a delay to your scan.
If you need a repeat investigation such as blood tests, X-rays, CT scan or ultrasound, it may take some time to get the results. Please be patient with the staff as they are trying their best to get it organised as soon as possible but as this is a trauma centre, there can be a long wait.
Patients from a GP
If you have been referred to SACU by your GP, bring a copy of the referral letter with you (if you have one). Please aim to arrive within two hours of your GP appointment time and no later than 4pm, to make sure we can complete the necessary investigations.
Patients from a ward or outpatient clinic
If you have been referred to SACU after a stay in hospital, please come at the exact time you are booked in.
Please bring your discharge letter with you as this will help us to make sure you receive care as planned on leaving hospital. Your primary care team may ask you to attend so we can check your progress after you’re discharged. Please be prepared to wait for a review as it may take some time for the results of investigations to come back.
What to expect during your visit
SACU is a multidisciplinary area, and you will often see more than one speciality of staff. Our nurses will help coordinate your care and will communicate with you throughout your stay.
On arrival you will be asked to take a seat in our waiting area. A nurse or healthcare assistant will take your details, record your observations and perform any blood tests that have been requested. We will then organise any other planned investigations you need (for example, ultrasound scan, CT, or X-ray).
A doctor will review you in one of our assessment rooms and decide on the most suitable treatment.
We will make every attempt to see you quickly. Unfortunately, there may be a delay at times as our doctors may be operating or caring for people elsewhere in the hospital. If this is the case, we will let you know.
For more information about what to expect during and after your visit, please see our Surgical Ambulatory Care Unit patient information leaflet below.
Location
Integrated Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) and Discharge Unit, First floor, Golden Jubilee Wing, Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 9RS
Contact details
- SACU Reception: 020 3299 8675
- Nurse in Charge: 020 3299 7089
- Nurse’s Station: 020 3299 9417
- SACU Hotline (Mondays to Fridays, 9.30am to 4pm): 020 3299 5364
- Email: [email protected]
Patient information leaflets
| Title | File Size | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Surgical Ambulatory Care Unit (SACU) | 189 KB |
Conditions we treat
Patients can be referred to SACU by King’s Emergency Department (ED), their GP, NHS 111, London Ambulance Services (LAS), outpatient clinics, or a ward or other hospital department. Patients discharged from SACU can self-refer within 2 weeks of their last visit if the concern is related to the previous attendance. Please note, we are not a walk-in service.
Our surgical specialties include:
- Colorectal Surgery
- General Surgery
- Gynaecology
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
- Orthopaedics
- Trauma Surgery
- Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery
- Urology
Patient inclusion criteria:
- independently mobile
- low frailty score
- age 16 and above
- NEWS <4
- GCS 15/15
- clinically stable
- nil oxygen requirement
- not requiring an isolation room
- not requiring cardiac monitoring
- not requiring enhanced care
- not requiring AWS monitoring
- adult patients controlled pain
- patients referred from acute services (ED or GP) or ward settings facilitating early discharge
What is required before referring a patient
SACU is open from Monday to Sunday, 8am to 8pm. The latest time we will accept a patient into SACU for complete investigations (bloods, scans) is 6pm.
Please supply all relevant test results, scans and X-rays.
Before sending a patient to SACU, referral must be discussed and accepted by both the Surgical Specialist Registrar (SpR) and the SACU Nurse in Charge – see further information under ‘Routine referrals below.
Booking a patient at King’s
Routine referrals
The referral must be discussed with the on-call Surgical SpR via King’s main switchboard on 020 3299 0000. If accepted by the Surgical SpR, the referral must then be discussed with the SACU Nurse in Charge (020 3299 7089). If the patient fits the SACU’s criteria they will be triaged.
GPs should use the Consultant Connect phone line to discuss and refer patients who have a medical illness or diagnosis and who require early review.
Self-referring patients (those who are within 2 weeks of their last visit to SACU) must call the SACU hotline before returning to SACU so we can appropriately triage your referral (call 020 3299 5364, from Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 4pm).
Emergency referrals
Our service treats stable ambulant surgical patients only. Patients must call NHS 111 for urgent and out of hours referral process. For emergencies, patients must attend their nearest Accident and Emergency.
Queries
- SACU Reception: 020 3299 8675
Key Clinical Staff
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Zyrine Anticamara-Cortes | Staff Nurse |
| Molvin Binu-Mathai | Charge Nurse |
| Catherine Cronin | Charge Nurse |
| Jill Rose Cuarteron | Staff Nurse |
| Rosselle Delos Reyes | SACU Manager / Acute Surgical Clinical Nurse Specialist |
| Lorna Hanly | Charge Nurse |
| Kavita Jangade | Surgical Technician |
| Katie Nolan | Charge Nurse |
| Jerenney Real | Charge Nurse |
| Emilyn Romero | Surgical Technician |
| Christine Rorke | Matron for Surgery |
| Kayzelle Yparraguirre | Charge Nurse |