Quality time: The value of consultants - BMA

QUALITY TIME
There were some initial concerns that women would be uncomfortable leaving hospital so quickly, but audits
of patient satisfaction have shown the opposite: ‘Most people said it was absolutely fantastic to go home
the same or the next day,’ says Mr Brown. ‘Contrary to what everybody would normally think, the patients
loved it. There’s this strange idea that people with breast cancer are terribly fragile, but they actually want
to feel normal. People don’t like being away from their nearest and dearest, and they want to get home as
quickly as possible.’
The initiative has now been picked up as national best practice and Mr Brown estimates that it could save the
NHS millions if replicated across the country. Having demonstrated its value ‘in both a financial way and a
patient-focused way,’ he and colleagues regularly give presentations across the country. However, he says it
would have been very difficult without SPAs: ‘Service development takes up a lot of time. You need time to find
consensus, to sit down and reflect on what you’re doing and what you’ve achieved.’
BMA – Quality time 9