Parental satisfaction with paediatric day-case ENT surgery.

Day surgery is increasing to improve the efficient use of NHS resources and it is vital that the quality of patient care is not compromised. The Audit Commission has recommended that there should be a systematic appraisal of the patient's views to monitor quality of day care. A survey of parental satisfaction with paediatric day-case surgery provides valuable information for those providing day surgery. A specific area of dissatisfaction previously identified is inadequate pain control following discharge. It is also suggested that day surgery may incur higher costs for the general practitioner. A retrospective study to investigate parental satisfaction with 100 paediatric otorhinolaryngology cases was performed. This study found 96 per cent of parents were happy with the treatment their child received, 89 per cent were satisfied with self-administered simple analgesia and no patients visited their general practitioner on the day following surgery. It is concluded that with careful selection and adequate support the degree of satisfaction with day surgery is high for a wide variety of procedures.