Conversion of uncomplicated Major Benign Gynaecology overnight surgery to same-day-surgery

Historically, Major Gynaecology surgery has had the inherent requirement of an overnight hospital admission following a patient’s elective surgery, however, some organisations have recently explored and implemented a same-day-surgery model of care. This project will focus on the conversion of uncomplicated Major Benign Gynaecology overnight surgery to same-day-surgery, with the aim of solving this problem via a PDSA approach with continual evaluation and analysis of findings, impacting changes to the proposed pathway. A same-day-surgery model of care would have a significant impact on the Royal Women’s Hospital as an organisation and is supported by literature as the next progression following implementation of an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) care pathway that is currently in place.

I believe the introduction of the same-day-surgery project at the Royal Women’s Hospital could have considerable impact to the ways in which care is provided to our patients, including many subsequent benefits as identified and supported within the literature. The ERAS project at the Royal Women’s Hospital has successfully demonstrated its positive impact, not only through key performance indicators (KPIs), but also via patient reported outcome and experience measures (PROMs and PREMs). By utilising a same-day-surgery approach, the Royal Women’s Hospital would reduce the throughput of patients from Theatre to the ward, therefore reducing the requirement of beds, and the subsequent bed pressures associated with elective overnight stays. Not only would this create a positive financial saving for the Women’s, as the overall beds per night cost would be reduced under this model of care, but it also presents an excellent opportunity to revisit our current surgical processes and ensure that current models of care are utilising the best evidence available. When partnered with the ERAS pathway, there is very tangible evidence for a substantial impact to our patients and organisation as a whole.