This paper is based on a qualitative study that was designed to investigate patients' experiences of day case surgery and its outcomes. The study was a part requirement of a Masters course in Community Care Studies, and was conducted in a Welsh Integrated Trust in 1997. A case-study approach employing semi-structured interviews was used. A total of 16 patients were interviewed (5 females and 11 males). Three of the males and all five females had varicose vein repair, and the other eight males had a hernia repair. The findings of the study were that although patients preferred the option of day care surgery and indicated that they would choose this in future, the information given to them and the postoperative care they received were largely inadequate. The interviews demonstrate that the communication between hospital and home care was often inadequate, and that some patients and carers experienced unforeseen difficulties and distress.

In a prospective, randomized, double-blind study, we compared intravenous tenoxicam with rectal diclofenac for post-operative pain relief after day case arthroscopy or laparoscopic sterilization. Intravenous tenoxicam (40 mg) was administered as a single bolus at induction, or rectal diclofenac (100 mg) was administered immediately after induction. Both groups were similar with respect to age, weight, sex of the patients, the operation performed and the operative time. There were no significant differences observed between the groups for pain scores at 30 min, 60 min and 24 h post-operatively. The time to first analgesic requirement, the dose of pethidine administered and total analgesic requirements in the first 24 h post-operatively were equivalent in both groups. In view of the similar efficacy of both of these drugs, patient preference and ease of administration, the use of tenoxicam is appropriate in many patients undergoing day case surgery.