Day Surgery

I listened to Patricia Hewitt going on about the NHS and how the target is to make them balance their books. And how is this to be done? By increasing day surgery cases. Apparently the "top" hospitals have 75-80% of their cases as day surgery. And Patricia Hewitt says this is "good for the patient". I can tell you now that those are the words of someone who has never had major surgery. I had my gall bladder out two years ago and I got over the op fairly well but even so I am glad I was in the hospital for an extra 24 hours.

Day surgery is NOT about improving things for the patient. It is about saving money. One of the reasons I left veterinary practice was because I was fed up of pushing patients through as fast as possible, making them feel like sausage meat going through a factory. Patients need time and attention. But the demands being put on the NHS are definitely more sausage than caviar. In the last 18 months I can name three people who are worse off because the NHS wanted to get them out of their bed too quickly, and one of those people died.

There is a place for day surgery. Certainly it is not good to lie in a hospital bed for too long (after all, who knows what you may catch) but neither is it good to be forcibly ejected. Surgery is a major assault on the body, it takes time to recover. Even anaesthetic alone, without a blade being wielded, takes its toll. Rush people in and out too quickly, fail to check they are stable, neglect to put them on fluids while the liver recovers, and you can be sure more accidents will happen.