Early discharge from hospital

[elliejjtiny]

We are living with the in-laws at the moment which has been a bit of an education for them I think in lots of ways. Ds (aged 9) had a 4 hour operation yesterday. He went down to theatre at 9, in recovery at 1pm and on the ward at 2pm. At 2:30 he was still really sleepy and throwing up but the nurses were quite keen to get him up and moving and home so he had 1/2 a teaspoon of jelly (which he puked back up) and then we went home. I am used to this as he has had many operations before but in-laws were horrified that he hadn't been kept in overnight. I have noticed a gradual reduction of time spent in hospital after operations over the years and personally I find it easier to look after the dc at home once they are off the morphine/tramadol. I was wondering after seeing in-laws reactions whether the change is for the benefit of the patients, to save money/free up beds, to try and control covid or a bit of all three. Our local hospital has recently built a new discharge lounge for people who are nearly ready to go home with chairs instead of beds which must be a huge space saver and will hopefully mean less ambulances queuing outside a and e.

I dont have any insight into this but I would think its a mixture of all the things youve said. I would think that they want the bed asap and most patients would rather conveless at home....aslong as its safe for the patient to be discharged and its not been a rushed process!

Thankyou. I always prefer to get home asap, especially since covid with the restricted visiting and mask wearing. It was only the in-laws reaction that made me wonder. I do find that if you tell someone who hasn't been in hospital for years that it's day surgery then they assume it will be something extremely minor and they will stroll out of hospital a couple of hours later like nothing happened.

I would imagine that at some point in the past 😉 a period of care and stay in hospital after an operation etc was 'the norm'......not that I've known that in my life time!!!

I've had a couple of day surgeries recently, and a couple of overnighters. Not so many years ago, they would have been much longer stays. Much of the difference is down to better anesthetics, better pain meds, and better, quicker, and less destructive surgical procedures. Also most people rehabilitate better at home, better sleep, better food, less stressful.

All those result in shorter stays, and of course less cost, and less beds are needed.

When I had DD's I was in and out within a day, when my mum had me, she strayed in for a week, and then had a council supplied mothers help for a further week!! Times change.

Along with the other reasons mentioned it is also to reduce the chance of hospital acquired infection.
As you have said, most people prefer to be at home if they don't actually require medical care on an ongoing basis. I also remember reading some research that showed that recovery is quicker too

Thankyou. In-laws last stayed in hospital in about 1993 when it was normal for children to spend 3 nights in hospital having their tonsils out! I much prefer it this way and we can call the children's ward any time of day or night if we are worried.