ABSTRACT
Day case surgery can be delivered without compromising patient safety and the quality or experience of care. This is dependent, however, on adequate pathway planning with a multi-disciplinary approach and integration of quality measures to maintain standards and drive improvement. A wide range of breast surgical procedures are appropriate for day case admission but rates vary nationally and within countries, often due to health professional misperception about its benefits and the challenges associated with its implementation. In the UK, improvement in day case rates for breast surgery has been tackled by providing practical support to hospitals for service re-design. The process and values underlying this, which are not restricted to health care delivery in the UK National Health Service, is reviewed in this chapter. Optimizing utilization of a day case admission pathway, by reducing length of hospital stay, also releases in-patient resources for women who require post-operative monitoring following more complex oncoplastic procedures. Adoption of a day surgery “mind-set” can lead to further quality improvement for this patient group as the principles underlying safe day surgery delivery are pertinent to the development of overnight stay and enhanced recovery pathways.
