Five years' experience of a gastroenterology day-case unit.

An inpatient ward has been converted, at low cost, to a gastroenterology day-case unit, which includes a purpose-built endoscopy room and a day-case area. The presence of a day-case ward permits the nursing establishment to be sufficiently flexible to cover the endoscopy room fully, and the hours are suitable for married nurses with families. Patients remain on the same trolley throughout the procedure so that portering delays are avoided, and a good flow system operated by the unit's staff enables endoscopies to be carried out at the rate of one every ten to fifteen minutes. Admissions rose from 1900 to 2700 per year (an average of 12 X 5 admissions per working day, theoretical bed occupancy = 140%). Cost per patient is about half the estimated cost without a day-case unit. The increasing numbers of routine upper gastrointestinal endoscopies are mirrored by a halving of barium-meal examinations.