To not want surgery in a hospital with high Covid death rate

[katscamel]

I was due to have a day surgery op next week and went for my Pre-Assessment a few days ago.
Earlier today I received a call from my GP surgery to arrange a phone consultation for the test results (scheduled for early next week). I then had a call from the Patient waiting list coordinator to say the surgeon wanted to me to be an overnight case.
I understand the need to be observed etc (though dont know what test results indicate, so slightly worried but obviously not too urgent) but the hospital I would be admitted to(different from the original) has had a damning report about the rate of Covid deaths (some of the highest in the country).
Am I being unreasonable for having concerns about being an overnight patient at this hospital and is there anything I can do to convince the medical team I would prefer to have it as day surgery or even surgery plus admission at the original hospital??

do you need to have a test before surgery? If so all other patients will need to do so too taking away some of the risks.

I would be nervous but feel reassured they are seeing fewer patient than usual and also have strict infection controls in place.

Why is the report damming? Where the deaths preventable? Was there failures in care?

Was the hospital used as a sort of hub for cases? My town doesnt have a hospital but there are a dozen or so spread through the neighbouring towns. Only 2 were used for covid patients so when looking at statistical, they appeared to have high covid rates whilst the others had very low (only really from people taken there for something else who turned out to also have covid). It doesnt mean those hospitals were really bad at treating people, it's just that they had all the patients so that's where the deaths occurred.

The hospitals are very good at infection control; if there is a covid ward, you wont be in touch with it.

The thing is it's unlikely that any of the patients that died there actually caught it in the hospital. Where I work, during the pandemic incoming patients with covid and staff that looked after them were very strictly segregated so there was no chance of cross contamination - so covid patients were on a completely separate, locked ward with air ventilation systems that meant the air from the ward didn't go anywhere else, and staff had to enter and leave through a separate back door and were not allowed to enter other areas of the hospital. The patients that died where I work mostly caught it in their care/nursing homes.

Is there anything I can do to convince the medical team I would prefer to have it as day surgery
Probably not, you can discharge yourself against medical advice (wouldn't advise it though).

or even surgery plus admission at the original hospital??
Maybe, but probably not without a delay, they've probably changed hospitals cos the other one has no beds.

The hospital I work in had over 500 patients die from covid over the "peak" and the summer, but we've had less than 10 people die since the end of July. Like a pp said, a lot of people probably caught it outside the hospital.

You can ask.

But I think you would be mad to turn it down. Good only knows when you will get the opportunity again.

I've edited the report in the local paper and though it relates to the situation in August it's still worrying especially as a lot of it was due to the improper use of PPE, general hygiene etc.

....Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said:“It is extremely disappointing to find that despite being warned about their hygiene, not enough work had been carried out to address infection control issues within the trust.
“We had reviewed the work carried out by xxx around infection prevention and control practices and issued a warning notice to them on August 3. However, the scale of the concerns were so great that we carried out a focussed inspection on August 11.

I'm going to give my GP a ring tomorrow with the hope that they can be slightly more reassuring.

I would be slightly worried as well OP - not the previous high death rate per se which may have been out of their control, but the current poor infection control procedures. That said, the inspection was of the medical (not surgical) service, and the emergency department. Further, CQC have used their enforcement powers to compel them to make improvements, and are engaging with them on a weekly basis to monitor them. www.cqc.org.uk/news/releases/cqc-demands-improvements-william-harvey-hospital

It’s up to you to decide if you want the surgery or feel the risk is too great.

I think “trying to convince” a surgeon to change the plan for your care without understanding why they want an overnight admission would be foolish. By all means ask for an explanation of the reasons for the overnight stay, but if they say it is for safety, then I think you have to either put surgery off or take the risk re Covid. I would think if you don’t agree to stay in they may decline to do your surgery. Of course, you could go in, have surgery and then discharge yourself against medical advice- again, this is usually not a very good idea.

I doubt you can simply switch hospital- probably a reason you are having it there (some healthboards/trusts are trying to keep all elective care in one hospital and acute care in another hospital, for instance). You can ask, but even if allowed I would imagine there would be a delay due to that change of location.