On arrival at hospital

• Please report to the reception of the Endoscopy Unit. 

• A nurse will check your details, blood pressure and pulse. If you are allergic to anything (medication, plasters, latex) please tell the nurse. 

• You will be asked to remove any jewellery, false teeth, spectacles, contact lenses and tongue studs before the examination. 

• Please inform the nurse if you have a pacemaker, replacement joints, pins or plates. 

• You will need to change into a hospital gown. 

• Please do not hesitate to ask any questions you may have. 

• You will have the test you will be undergoing explained to you during your admission. You will then be asked to sign a consent form. 

• A nurse will stay with you throughout the examination..

What does the examination involve? 

• You will have sedation. 

• A small needle will be inserted into a vein and a sedative and/or painkiller injected before starting the examination. This will make you feel relaxed but rarely induces sleep.(This will be left in lightly strapped to your hand/arm until you are recovered from the procedure). 

• For some patients we offer the use of Entonox for this procedure or no medication at all. Entonox is the pain relief gas that women receive while giving birth. It works by taking in a deep breath using a mouth piece.  

• Very occasionally, at the patients request, the endoscopist agrees the procedure can be carried out without sedation. Please discuss this with the endoscopist.

• The nurse or endoscopist will discuss with you whether you will have a local anaesthetic spray (numbing) on the back of your throat; this has a bitter taste.

• A small device for recording the pulse and breathing will be attached to your finger. You will be given oxygen. 

• A cuff will be placed on your arm to monitor your blood pressure. (Please inform the nurse if there is a reason why a certain arm cannot be used). 

• A small mouthpiece will be placed in your mouth. 

• The endoscopist will gently insert the gastroscope into your stomach. This is not painful and will not make breathing or swallowing difficult, but you may feel like retching and feel uncomfortable during the test. 

• The stomach will be gently inflated with air to expand it so that the lining can be seen more clearly. The air is sucked out at the end of the test. 

• The nurse may need to clear saliva from your mouth using a small suction tube.

• Afterwards the gastroscope is removed easily and the trolley is turned around. 

• A rectal examination will be performed by the endoscopist before the colonoscopy procedure.

• Then while you are comfortably lying on your left side the endoscopist will gently insert the colonoscope into your back passage and pass it around the whole of the large bowel. 

• Air will be passed into the bowel to expand it so the bowel lining can be seen more clearly. This  may give you some discomfort, but it will not last long. 

• You may need to pass wind during your procedure this is normal and the endoscopist is used to it. Please do not be embarrassed. 

• A biopsy (a small sample of the lining of your bowel) may be taken during the examination to be sent to the laboratory for more tests. You cannot feel this. (A video recording and/or photographs may be taken for your records). 

• Similarly, any polyps may be removed during the examination, but you will not feel this either.

 • Polyps are small growths in the lining of the bowel; they are not cancerous but could turn into a cancer in years to come if not removed. Polyps are removed by cutting them out. 

• This is done by placing a small loop of wire through which a low current of electricity is passed, causing the stem to be burnt through. Afterwards the colonoscope is removed easily