The concept of ‘ambulatory care’ is an evolving one, but as new systems and techniques are developed, urology is one of the surgical specialties that remains poised to best take advantage of these. Ambulatory urology encompasses not only surgical procedures with same‐day discharge, but also outpatient attendances encompassing multiple tests and investigations in one visit.

In the drive for healthcare to be efficient, cost‐effective, and timely for patients, urology units are now increasingly looking for new ways to deliver an ‘ambulatory service.’ So‐called ‘one‐stop’ clinics for the investigation of haematuria are now commonplace and increasingly similar models are being employed for assessment of possible prostate cancer and benign conditions such as lower urinary tract symptoms.

With advances in surgical technology, a very high proportion of urological operations are now completed as ‘day‐cases.’ Just a few decades ago, ureteric stones were managed with open ureter lithotomy and an inpatient stay of several nights, today ureteric stones are treated with ureteroscopy and laser stone fragmentation and patients are normally discharged home within a few hours of leaving the operating theatre. The vast majority of penile and scrotal surgery is now considered ambulatory and new techniques such as Rezūm prostate surgery mean that a high proportion of urological pathologies have an ambulatory option for management. In the coming years we are likely to see increased usage of robot assisted laparoscopy as more surgeons are exposed to it during their training and more manufacturers enter the marketplace. Day‐surgery robot‐assisted prostatectomy is already a reality in some units, and this opens the door to ambulatory robot‐assisted surgery one day becoming the rule, rather than the exception.