Asked by: Baroness Burt of Solihull (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to introduce better perioperative practices into the NHS to reduce the number of surgical cancellations, complications, and extended stays in hospital.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In May 2023, NHS England published guidance in an online-only format setting out five core perioperative care requirements relating to the care of adult patients awaiting planned inpatient surgery. Implementation of these core requirements will reduce post-surgery complications and length of stay and reduce the likelihood of short notice postponement or cancellations occurring for avoidable clinical reasons. The NHS England National Elective Recovery and Outpatients programme is working with NHS England regional teams to help oversee and support compliance and will continue to do so throughout 2024/25. Beyond these requirements, we are encouraging the adoption of practices such as enhanced recovery initiatives, which minimise length of stay and reduce complications, using the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation framework as a financial incentive, and maximising day surgeries where clinically appropriate to minimise risk of cancellation from bed pressures.
Asked by: Baroness Burt of Solihull (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recent proposals of the Centre for Perioperative Care to address inefficiencies in the surgical pathway.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government welcomes the recent manifesto of the Centre for Perioperative Care and will consider its recommendations. The Government is already working with NHS England to improve perioperative care. In May 2023, NHS England published guidance in an online-only format setting out five core perioperative care requirements relating to the care of adult patients awaiting planned inpatient surgery. These measures address the key objective of identifying health needs as early as possible in perioperative pathways, and then using time on the waiting list to optimise health, which is the Centre for Perioperative Care’s ambition for ‘preparation lists’. The NHS England National Elective Recovery and Outpatients programme is working with NHS England regional teams to help oversee and support compliance and will continue to do so throughout 2024/25.