Breast Surgery as Day Surgery
13 Sep 2016
RM Partners, jointly with the British Association of Breast Day Surgery (BADS) held a forum focussed on ‘Breast Surgery as Day Surgery’ on Tuesday 6 September 2016 in order to encourage and support health care professionals to transition to ‘breast surgery as day surgery’
Currently variation exists in the length of stay for women requiring non-reconstructive breast cancer surgery (i.e. mastectomy or wide local excision with or without any axillary surgery). Routine use of wound drains can be a major contributor in extending length of stay. Reducing length of stay and same day discharge is also a breast peer review outcome. Evidence suggests that if a well-managed pathway is in place and operationally supported, same day discharge without the use of drains has good clinical outcomes and improved patient experience.
There were a range of presentations on the day to include, the principles underlying successful day surgery pathway planning and how performance and quality can be assessed, 10 year evidence for same day discharge for non-reconstructive breast cancer surgery, the impact of pre-operative assessment on surgical and longer-term survivorship outcomes as well as examples from City Hospital Birmingham and Croydon Hospital on how they set up and improved their breast day surgery service and rates.
The next step is for delegates to use the resources provided at the workshop to review their day surgery practice and implement service improvements to improve their day surgery rates.
BADS have offered further support as well as on site help upon request. They can be contacted via bads@bads.co.uk