Beds or day case unit: your choice?

The aim of this study was to assess the amount of day case surgery and potential day case surgery being performed in the main theatre block of a District General Hospital, which had a thriving Day Case Unit. Our results revealed that as well as large numbers of potential day cases being performed as inpatients, many patients (both potential day cases and long-stay elective surgery patients) are spending a day(s) in hospital prior to the day of surgery. We believe that by performing all day case surgery in our Day Case Unit and by using the Day Case Unit to perform pre-admission screening on all surgical patients, a large number of bed days will become available. These beds may be used for elective or emergency admissions. Alternatively, cutting surgical beds will free monies which can be spent on the Day Case Unit.