A prospective observational study of the safety and acceptability of vaginal hysterectomy performed in a 24‐hour day case surgery setting

Abstract

A prospective observational study of the safety and acceptability of vaginal hysterectomy performed in a 24-hour day case surgery setting Sir, I read with interest the article by Penketh et al. 1 regarding the safety and acceptability of vaginal hysterectomy performed in a 24-hour day case setting. It is a great step forward in curtailing the rising cost to the NHS and solving the problem of bed shortage.However, many surgeons still consider that most women are not fit for discharge within 24 hours after vaginal hysterectomy. If the practice of 24-hour discharge after vaginal hysterectomy needs to be accepted more widely in UK, both surgeons and managers need to be convinced of patient satisfaction with 24-hour discharge. Do the authors have any statistics about the satisfaction of patients involved in the study? Publication of patient satisfaction data may help setting up such services in other trusts around UK. j Reference 1 Penketh R, Griffiths A, Chawathe S. A prospective observational study of the safety and acceptability of vaginal hysterectomy performed in a 24-hour day case surgery setting. BJOG 2007;114:430-6.