Press release: NHS Confederation response to Healthcare Commission's day surgery review

11 Jul 2005

The NHS Confederation has welcomed the key finding of the Healthcare Commission's report on NHS day surgery services in England that many hospital trusts have improved these services over the last five years.

The report says: 'Many trusts have made some distinct improvements, both in patient care and in the management and extent of day surgery since the Audit Commission looked at day surgery in 2000/2001.
'Compliance with good practice, such as ensuring that patients receive good pre-admission information in writing, has improved, as have percentages of patients that fail to attend for their procedures.'

The Healthcare Commission report also acknowledges that the total number of day surgery admissions for 25 common procedures has increased by 12% over the last four years.

Dr Gill Morgan, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation which represents more than 90% of NHS organisations, says: "It is heartening that the Healthcare Commission's review of day surgery in England has found real evidence of improvement but there is clearly scope to use day surgery more efficiently.

"Cancelled operations, which the report identifies as a key reason for under-use of theatre time allocated for day surgery, are often due to unplanned emergency operations. Increasingly, trusts are separating out the management of non-emergency from emergency operations, and running separate day surgery units, to help reduce the numbers of last-minute cancellations, often through significant investment in new specialist units. 
"The number of patients who fail to show up for their appointments is still an issue and so continued government investment in the Choose and Book programme, which enables patients to choose a date and time for their day surgery, will enable us to further reduce this problem."

Dr Morgan stresses: "Maximising the potential benefits of increasing the percentage of elective operations carried out as day surgery is a complex process because it requires the right facilities, systems to ensure that patients' suitability for day surgery is rigorously assessed and the development of clinical teams.
"The Healthcare Commission report indicates that significant progress has been made but there is scope for further improvement."

ENDS

Notes for editors

The NHS Confederation represents more than 90% of the organisations that make up the NHS throughout the UK. Its members include the majority of NHS trusts, foundation trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; NHS boards and special boards in Scotland; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland. 

Contact details

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