Day case surgery is acknowledged to have many advantages over inpatient surgery, including greater efficiency, reduced risk of infection, reduced waiting lists and lower costs. 1 Although in the past two decades day surgery has experienced a gradual expansion of services in the UK, the 2001 Audit Commission report on day surgery showed that there was still far more potential for expansion 2 and the Department of Health launched the 'day surgery strategy' in January 2002 with the specific aim of increasing and improving day surgery in the NHS.