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Post-operative stays 'vary by up to three weeks'
The length of stay by patients recovering from surgery varies significantly between hospitals, research published today shows.
The study, by medical researchers Dr Foster, examined patients recovering from standard hip-replacement and bowel operations. It reveals that the longest average in-patient stay after bowel surgery was 16.4 days longer than the shortest.
Patients in Bristol spent on average only 4.4 days in hospital after hip-replacement surgery. However, the stay was more than three weeks longer for patients of the West Middlesex Hospital in London, who remained in-patients for an average of 26 days.
Commenting on the study, Dr Andrew Webb, medical director at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: 'What is striking about this information is that neither geographical location, the size of the hospital, the type of trust it is nor the number of patients they operate on seems to affect the length of stay.'
However, according to Jo Webber, deputy policy director at the NHS Confederation, 'length of stay is only one measure of quality of care.'
'In hospitals with expertise in a particular surgical field, long recovery times may reflect the complex nature of the difficult cases they receive.'
Category: Healthcare
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