23 August 2002
The cash will fund 120,000 extra operations a year and is in line with a recommendation from the Audit Commission.
New operational guidance was also published as the extra investment was announced on August 16. This is intended to help trusts cut waiting times, set up booking systems and offer more choice.
It suggests 17 new procedures suitable for day surgery, including breast cancer operations and keyhole surgery on knee cartilage or shoulder joints.
The guide describes day surgery as 'a key strand of NHS modernisation' and claims it provides trusts with a means of improving their throughput of patients and reducing waiting lists.
Health minister John Hutton said: '[The] day surgery guidance is a challenge to managers, commissioners and clinicians. They need to be asking as a matter of course: do we have to admit this case as an inpatient?'
Nigel Edwards, policy director of the NHS Confederation, told Public Finance that the government's prompting would not come as a bolt from the blue to NHS managers.
'We've been talking about day surgery since the early 1990s if not before,' he said. 'There is a desperate need for this sort of capital. It is an area where you can spend capital more safely than in some other areas without mortgaging the future. It's reasonably robust and can pay back pretty fast.'
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