"Saving a large sum of money to NHS, giving..."

This is not a complaint or a criticism, just a suggestion to improve the care to benefit all concerned. Recently my wife had a successful operation at Leighton. All the medical and nursing stafftook excellent care. (Rate 4.5 Stars). Suggestion: Usually the cannua is replaced after 3-4days to prevent infection and discomfort. This practice is not applied to a cathetor, particulrly the cathetor that drains the fluid from a wound. Such drainage tubes develop bloskages after a few days, probably due to blood clots in the tubes, stopping the drainage. Absence of flow leads to an assumption that the dranage is complete. A premature discontinuation of the procedure leads to a high possibility of infection. The patient then have to stay for 3-4days more in the hospital, consumes antibiotics, needs pathological monitoring etc, expensive stuff. Like in the case of cannula, if it is made a practice that the draining tube must be changed after 3-4 days, the possibility of the blockage could be avoided. This would save the bed occupancy, less discomfort to the patiend, less nursing and medical attention. This could save a large sum of money to NHS. It is an 'all win' situation. Alternative is to develop a quick test to confirm that the drain tube is definitely not blocked instead of relying on ones judgement. Undrained fluid must become viscous and not drainable after a few days so it is imparative that maximum amount of the fluid is removed. This is not a complaint. Just a suggestion.