Objective: To assess the quantitative development of day surgery in the Netherlands.
Design: Descriptive.
Setting: St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, the Netherlands.
Method: Numbers of admissions in the period 1984-1995 were obtained from Dutch data bases of the National Hospital Institution (NZi). From SIG Health Care Information numbers were obtained with regard to seven specified interventions in the years 1991 to 1995, i.e. breast tumour excision, inguinal hernia repair, varicose vein operation, laparoscopic sterilisation, knee arthroscopy, cataract operation and tonsillectomy. The increase if any of the number of interventions in day care was determined by placing the hospitals in the order of decreasing proportions of day care, and subsequently applying the proportions of the 5th and 10th hospitals, respectively, to the whole group.
Results: The number of day care admissions rose from 172,000 (9.9% of all admissions) to 649,000 (29.1%). Of all interventions studied, the percentage carried out in day care increased; the percentages varied greatly from one hospital to another. In 1995, the mean number of interventions in daytime was 115,000 (57% of all 201,000 interventions). The shift from interventions during hospitalization to day care would be 42,000 and 51,000 (21% and 25% respectively, of 201,000), respectively; operations performed in day care would then amount to 166,000 (83% of the total number of interventions) and 157,000 (78%).
Conclusion: Of the interventions studied, the proportion carried out in day care increased to 57%. In view of the intra- and interhospital differences, a considerable increase of day care in the near future is possible.