Introduction
Paediatric tonsillectomy is a commonly performed surgical procedure. In
Australia in 2017-18, paediatric tonsillectomy accounted for 750
hospitalisations per 100 000.(1) The main indications include sleep
disordered breathing (SDB) and recurrent tonsillitis (RT).(2, 3) These
conditions adversely impact the child’s quality of life (QoL) and
behaviour. Furthermore, there are consequential effects on the child’s
parents and the health system, such as days off school translating to
days off work for their parents, and an increase in presentations at
primary care clinics and emergency rooms.(4-6)
Australia has a mixed public and private healthcare system where the
former is entirely government-funded whereas the latter is
government-subsidised with the remainder paid by the patient and their
private health insurer. In 2017-18, the median waiting time for
tonsillectomy (after initial specialist consultation) in an Australian
public hospital was 121 days.(7) Private hospitals in Australia perform
50% more tonsillectomies than public hospitals, yet public patients
wait almost 3 times longer.(8, 9) This highlights an inequality in
healthcare access where there are higher rates of tonsillectomies in
patients of higher socioeconomic status despite higher rates of SDB and
RT in patients of a lower socioeconomic status.(10)
This study aimed to evaluate changes in QoL of paediatric patients while
awaiting tonsillectomy in an Australian public hospital, following
recovery from surgery, and long term.