How Day Hospitals Help Prevent Bed Shortages

How the Day Hospital Is Helping to Prevent Bed Shortages

It is an inescapable fact that the demand for hospitalisation is increasing steadily and one of the problems most establishments are now having to contend with is that many of the patients who are occupying their beds did not actually need to be admitted in order to undergo their particular treatment. While to provide such treatments may well be beyond the scope of general practitioners, they often don’t justify the use of in-patient facilities that could leave more seriously-ill patients waiting for theatre time or a vacant bed. The solution, of course, is the day hospital – a facility alternatively described as an outpatient surgery centre.

The objectives of these centres are twofold. Firstly, they aim to speed up the treatment process, while ensuring to maintain the highest possible quality of patient care. In addition, they are intended to provide a more cost-effective option. With this type of facility, it becomes possible to ensure that patients undergo their surgeries on the day of admission. It is a sad fact that, with regards to conducting same-day surgeries, not only are South Africa’s figures lacking but they can be anything up to two to three times lower than those of some other countries.

The day hospital can not only help to rectify this problem but, in many cases, those patients who are scheduled to undergo relatively minor procedures can often be discharged on the same day. This contributes to the cost effectiveness of the establishment by creating the capacity for increased throughput. In addition, these units can serve to relieve some of the pressure and reduce the incidence of bed shortages in those centres where the surgical staff and facilities are vital for the care of acute cases.

Intercare was quick to recognise that the concept of the day hospital was integral to our strategy of maintaining high-quality care whilst reducing costs. It was also apparent that the outpatient-based treatment model is fully-aligned with these goals.  Accordingly, we established a number of these centres, each equipped with three operating theatres and 24 beds. Between them, these centres offer a wide range of surgical inventions in a variety of disciplines that include ENT, ophthalmology, gynaecology, urology, orthopaedics, general, and plastic surgery.

Now, rather than adding to the lengthy queues at a major facility, patients can attend one of the Intercare day hospitals where they can undergo procedures such as a tonsillectomy, corneal transplant, hysteroscopy, vasectomy, hernia repair, and arthroscopy of the shoulder or knee at the hands of expert and caring healthcare professionals.