Is paediatric day case tonsillectomy desirable? The parents' perspective

Tonsillectomy is the most commonly performed otolaryngological procedure in most units. There is considerable financial pressure to perform paediatric tonsillectomy as a day case. Responding to concern that day case tonsillec tomy might not be welcomed by parents or felt to be in the best interests o f the patients, we carried out an audit of paediatric tonsillectomy, by mea ns of a questionnaire for parents and nursing staff to complete while 32 co nsecutive patients underwent tonsillectomy as inpatients. Although eight pa rents (25%) felt that day surgery should be an option, none of those survey ed felt that on this occasion their child was well enough to be discharged home six hours postoperatively. Furthermore, no child in the audit fulfille d all the essential discharge criteria at six hours. In this area, at least , it appears parents do not uniformly welcome paediatric day case tonsillec tomy.