SummaryThe increasing use of paediatric day case surgery requires assessment of the effectiveness of post‐operative analgesia. A prospective epidemiological study of ninety‐eight patients undergoing day case surgery looked at pain assessment using a self report Faces scale and a numerical rating scale for parents and nursing staff. An inpatient record was combined with a home questionnaire detailing pain assessment and analgesic use over a 48 h period. Patients undergoing circumcision with a penile ring block experienced significant degrees of post‐operative pain, had high levels of use of paracetamol at home, and their first night of sleep was frequently disturbed. High levels of opioid use were found. Comparison between assessors indicated parents tended to score their child's pain higher than nursing staff in hospital. Minor paediatric surgical procedures, particularly circumcision, may be associated with considerable post‐operative pain and assumptions must not be made about the effectiveness of analgesia, especially in t