The effect of preoperative foot and ankle physiotherapy group on reducing inpatient stay and improving patient care.

Background: Benefits of day case foot and ankle surgery include reduced hospital stay, cost savings, high patient satisfaction, quicker recovery with no increased complications. The preoperative foot and ankle group was set up in 2007 to reduce inpatient hospital stays and increase the rate of day case procedures.

Methods: We evaluated length of stay and physiotherapy intervention for all our patients during the first three months of 2007-2011.

Results: Median length of stay was statistically significant (p<0.05) in all groups apart from the ankle group. Day case surgery rates increased in all groups apart from hindfoot group but the result was only significant for forefoot and midfoot groups.

Conclusion: The results show that the setting up our group has resulted in reduced inpatient stay, increase in day case surgery rates with significant cost savings.