about 20 percent, hospital chiefs say.

Dr. Barbara Jones, the acting chief of surgery, and Ms Gina McCracken, unit co-ordinator of Perry Ward, unveiled the new scheme last week.

Under the old system, patients requiring surgery would be admitted into the hospital the day before their operation.

Once all the tests were done in preparation for the surgery the patient was required to spend the remaining time leading up to the operation in the hospital.

The new system requires the patient to be admitted only two to three hours before the operation.

All of the tests required to check whether or not the patient was fit for surgery would be carried out at the new pre-admission clinic.

This new clinic would be located adjacent to Perry Ward and would not require additional staff to run it.

"With an average stay in the hospital being about five days,'' said Dr.

Jones, "people can expect to save almost 20 percent on the cost of their stay in the hospital.

"This means that the cost to insurance companies will go down which in turn means that their premiums should not go up as much as they have in previous years.'' She added saving money wasn't the only goal of the new system. Cutting down unnecessary hospital time would also benefit the patient.

According to Dr.

Jones the programme has now been running for a few days and despite an occasional "hiccup'', everything is running smoothly.