A consultant-delivered acute urology service: reducing length of stay and improving quality of service.

摘要

In NHS hospitals, the on-call urology service i s provided by non-resident consultants who continue to cover routine elective commitments during this period. A large number of clinical decisions are therefore made by junior staff, with review of patients only when requested or in extreme circumstances. The introduction of the European Working Time Directive has further compounded this problem. Where consultants have commitments at hospitals away from the acute admitting unit, this may mean that patients admitted acutely have little or no consultant input during the course of their stay, or could wait too long for a consultant review. In the present paper, we share our experience at a district general hospital where changes were made to enable the provision of a consultant-delivered acute urology service.