Social conditions and paediatric day case tonsillectomy.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a simple method for assessing the proportion of children referred to hospital for tonsillectomy in different areas likely to be suitable for day case treatment based on their medical and social characteristics.


METHODS
Four patient suitability criteria were selected based on previous experience of successful day case surgery and a literature review of the prevalence of contraindications and postoperative complications, as follows: medical contraindications (at least American Society of Anesthetists grade ASA2 to be eligible); home circumstances (no telephone, no car and single parent households were ineligible); distance from the hospital (more than 10 miles resulted in ineligibility); and likelihood of postoperative complications. Data relating to the social criteria were collected prospectively from 500 children under 12 years of age reviewed in the outpatient department and under the care of one of the authors. In addition, the electoral ward UPA8 (Jarman 8) deprivation score relevant to each child was recorded and the sample was divided into quintiles according to mean UPA8 scores. In each quintile, the percentage of children with the appropriate social criteria for day case tonsillectomy was calculated. The relationship between deprivation score and social criteria for day case tonsillectomy was determined using logistic regression.


RESULTS
The proportion of children deemed socially suitable for day surgery fell continuously from 95% in the least deprived quintile to 55% in the most deprived group (proportion passing the social criteria for suitability = -1.5035 + 0.0298UPA8). Using these findings and those from the literature review on the nature and prevalence of contraindications and postoperative complications, a simple formula for realistic day case tonsillectomy targets was specified as A x B x C x D x 100%, where A is the proportion of children with no additional medical problems, B is the proportion passing the social suitability criteria, C is the proportion living within 10 miles and D is the proportion with no postoperative complications. Values for A and D would be derived from local audits.


CONCLUSIONS
The formula can be used by purchasers and hospital managers to set differential day case targets for hospitals related to the characteristics of their patients referred for tonsillectomy. In principle, a similar approach could be applicable to other procedures and other age groups.
Drake-Lee
A
A
Department of ENT, Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Trust.
Harris
S
S
D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D018579:Patient Selection; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013222:State Medicine; D014068:Tonsillectomy / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006113:United Kingdom