Fasting Guidelines

Fasting is important for safe anaesthesia. This is to prevent stomach contents from entering your airways causing lung damage while you are unconscious during anaesthesia.

Patients must be fasted for at least 6 hours prior to their anaesthetic. That means no food, no lollies and no chewing gum.

If you take regular medications, especially heart and blood pressure medications, you should take these with a small sip of water regardless of fasting.