05 September 2008
The performance of health boards in providing day surgery varies widely across Scotland, although the service has improved during the past decade, an Audit Scotland survey has found.
In a report published on September 4, the public spending watchdog said the considerable variation among NHS boards was not explained by differences in location or in patients' circumstances. 'There is also a wide variation within individual boards for different types of operations,' Audit Scotland said.
The report, Day surgery in Scotland – reviewing progress, said performing more operations as day cases, involving no overnight stay in hospital, could potentially save millions of pounds if targets were achieved.
It found that in the ten years since the first review of day surgery, the NHS had continued to make improvements in the service. Overall, it was meeting national targets in more than half of the 19 more common day surgery procedures covered in the review.
But the report added: 'More operations could still be carried out in this way, potentially freeing up about £8m a year.' It pointed out that Scotland continued to have lower rates of day surgery than England and said this indicated there was an opportunity to improve performance further.
Auditor general Bob Black said it had long been recognised that day surgery benefited patients by promoting a speedy recovery and minimising the disruption that an overnight stay in hospital could have on people's lives. 'It also promotes a more efficient use of NHS resources by reducing waiting times and freeing up hospital beds,' he said.
The report revealed that NHS Fife was the best performing board, achieving more than 80% of relevant targets for same-day care. NHS Tayside, however, achieved less than 30%.
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