Average waits (Audit Commission, 2000-01)

Hernia: inpatients 105 day cases 84 days Varicose veins: inpatients 179 days day cases 154 days Cataract operation: inpatients 169 days day cases 163 days

Around 50% of hospital operations are undertaken as day surgery at present, but while some hospitals achieve over 60%, others only achieve half of that or less.

It is planned to establish diagnostic and treatment centres to specialise solely in day surgery.

This will ensure that planned operations are not interrupted, as they often are at busy district general hospitals, by the demands of emergency treatment.

Summit

Professor Ara Darzi will co-ordinate the initiative

The new initiative will be coordinated by Professor Ara Darzi, of Imperial College, Science, Technology and Medicine, London, who has been appointed as surgical adviser to the Department of Health.

One of his first tasks will be to chair a summit of all the hospitals that are performing below average numbers of day surgery cases.

It will look at what can be done by these hospitals to improve day surgery rates.

Mr Milburn said: "NHS waiting times are falling, but the gap between the best hospitals and the worst hospitals remains too wide.

"Day surgery holds the key to faster, more convenient treatment for patients. More day surgery means less waiting for patients.

"Reforms to protect planned operations from emergency cases are already in place in some NHS hospitals. I want to give other NHS hospitals the chance to learn from the best."

There are nearly 3,200,000 day case operations currently carried out in the NHS.

A recent report by the Audit Commission found that the NHS could increase the number of day surgery cases by around 120,000 a year.

Paul Baskerville, President of the British Association of Day Surgery, said: "We have long recognised the potential for treating many in-patients as day surgery cases, and that this could lead to a reduction in waiting lists and times and free-up hospital beds."