The Day Hospital Industry
The DHA wishes to draw your attention to factors which should serve to encourage the development of independent free-standing day hospital facilities. These include the following:
Cost effectiveness
Experience in countries such as America, Great Britain, Europe and Australia, as well as South Africa has shown that procedures performed in day hospital facilities are more cost effective compared to the cost in accute hospital facilities.
Patient comfort and safety
Day Hospital facilities provide a more relaxed, more informal and less stressful environment for the patient. Patient flows are quicker because only shorter procedures are carried out in such facilities while no overnight says are required. Nursing staff are competent and focused.
Post-operative infections
The incidence of drug resistant “hospital infections” are virtually zero.
Advances in medical technology
Advances in medical technology, anaesthetics and less invasive techniques made it possible for procedures to be safely carried out in day hospital facilities. As medical innovation continues to advance, more and more procedures will be able to be performed in day hospitals. Research in the United States and the United Kingdom has shown that over 70% of all surgical procedures can be carried out in day hospitals.
