Amputation surgery, both primary and secondary, is carried out as an in-patient, requiring at least one week in-patient stay and will often require a longer stay in hospital, particularly if it is necessary to do the surgery in two stages. If there is any sign of infection, or if the initial injury that caused the amputation was a very high energy injury, it is often worth considering doing this operation in two stages. This allows any latent infection that is stirred up by the surgery to be identified and drained prior the stump closure. The two stages are undertaken during the same in-patient stay, normally approximately 2-5days appart.

Doing work on the bone or burying nerves can be very painful, and therefore it is usually recommended to have a regional anaesthetic technique associated with the surgery. This would usually be either an epidural or a peripheral nerve block. This will frequently require high dependency nursing post-operatively. After the first 48hrs or so it is possible to wean off these. More advanced techniques and other analgesia such as a patient-controlled morphine pump can also be used. A consultation with the Consultant Anaesthetist may be appropriate, to discuss the most appropriate alternatives for you - this would be discussed during your initial consultation with Miss Cubison.