Day surgery rates in Wales remain too low, according to new Audit Committee report

There needs to be a significant increase in day surgery in Wales, but this improvement will not occur unless the Assembly Government, NHS Trusts and local health boards tackle the barriers to poor performance, according to a new audit report. The Assembly Audit Committee today publishes a report on Making better use of day surgery in Wales. The Committee found that day surgery rates in Wales were lower than in most other parts of the UK, and the Assembly Government’s Designed for Life target that 85 per cent of elective surgical care should involve a stay in hospital of less than 48 hours is unlikely to be met unless day surgery rates increase significantly. Day surgery rates are low in Wales and, other than for cataracts, have barely improved over five years, even though the default position for all elective surgery is that it should be carried out on a day surgery basis wherever appropriate. The Committee identified a number of barriers which need to tackled, including a lack of clarity in the definition of day surgery, the need for improved modern day surgery facilities and the need to persuade patients that day surgery is a good option for their treatment. The report makes a number of recommendations, including early and accurate information to patients on the benefits of day surgery and reducing the rates of cancellations. The report also recommends that local health boards should play a stronger role as commissioners in encouraging day surgery and clinicians should be trained to increase the amount of day surgery they can perform. Janet Davies AM, Chair of the Committee, said: “Optimising rates of day surgery has significant benefits for patient care as well as benefiting the NHS in Wales through more efficient use of resources. Overall, we concluded that day surgery rates remain too low in Wales and the Assembly Government’s increased recognition of the importance of day surgery needs to translate into measurable improvements in day surgery rates and concerted action to tackle the main barriers to day surgery provision.