Attitudes of patients to elective surgical admissions over Christmas and Easter.

It is often accepted by hospital staff that patients would prefer to be at home for the Christmas and Easter holiday periods. This is one of the reasons that elective surgery is reduced at these times. However there is very little evidence to prove whether this is true. To investigate this question 310 patients attending surgical or urological outpatients were given a self completion questionnaire asking them whether they would accept admission over these holidays if offered it. Overall 77 per cent of males and 76 per cent of females would accept admission over the Christmas period for elective surgery. This rises to 87 per cent and 88 per cent over the Easter period. Older patients, widows or widowers, retired patients and patients with subjectively severe symptoms and conditions were groups that independently accepted such admissions more readily than others. Contrary to the perceived opinion in hospital staff, in this sample of surgical and urological patients most patients appear willing to accept admission for elective surgery over the Christmas or Easter holiday periods.