Over eight years (1970-8) 1055 patients underwent operations for hernia or "major" varicose veins in a day-bed unit. Here, 608 were discharged home on the day of operation, 262 were transferred to a convalescent hospital for 48 hours, and 161 were retained in the acute ward as part of a controlled trial. Special emphasis was placed on selection and preadmission screening. Failure of planning was uncommon in that only 2.5% were detained in hospital and 1% had to be readmitted. About one-quarter of the patients had complications but these were generally trivial and were satisfactorily treated by the community nursing sisters or general practitioners, or both. Analysis of the total operations for hernia or varicose veins in the unit over the past 19 years shows that, whereas formerly all patients with these conditions were admitted to the main surgical ward, nowadays almost all are managed either by day care or in a five-day ward.
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