Is paediatric day case tonsillectomy desirable? The parents' perspective.

Tonsillectomy is the most commonly performed otolaryngological procedure in most units. There is considerable financial pressure to perform paediatric tonsillectomy as a day case. Responding to concern that day case tonsillectomy might not be welcomed by parents or felt to be in the best interests of the patients, we carried out an audit of paediatric tonsillectomy, by means of a questionnaire for parents and nursing staff to complete while 32 consecutive patients underwent tonsillectomy as inpatients. Although eight parents (25%) felt that day surgery should be an option, none of those surveyed felt that on this occasion their child was well enough to be discharged home six hours postoperatively. Furthermore, no child in the audit fulfilled all the essential discharge criteria at six hours. In this area, at least, it appears parents do not uniformly welcome paediatric day case tonsillectomy.