Patients are costing the NHS millions of pounds a year by turning up for operations unfit to go under the knife, a damning report reveals.
It says doctors are forced to cancel around 135,000 surgical procedures every day, costing £400m in lost time in the operating theatre.
A third of these are due to potentially avoidable clinical reasons, including patients who are not prepared for surgery or who have untreated comorbidities.
Now the Center for Perioperative Care (CPOC) is calling for waiting lists to be renamed “prep lists”, with sick Brits ordered to get fit after being referred for surgery.
Long waits for care give people the opportunity to increase their physical activity, improve their diet and quit smoking, the alliance of medical groups adds.
Patients can also use the time to monitor other health issues and mentally prepare for the procedure and rehabilitation.
CPOC’s ‘Plan for NHS Efficiency’ report says: ‘The NHS has too many cancellations, complications and long hospital stays, often due to patients arriving for surgery in a poor condition.
‘These can be avoided through concerted action to convert waiting lists into readiness lists, including screening and actively supporting patients to improve and maintain their health while they wait.
‘If patients have addressable health problems, they should be offered help to address them, including through “prehabilitation” programs, which could include support with exercise, smoking cessation, and more.
“This is not, and should not be, about erecting barriers to surgery: it is about giving patients the support they need to prepare as best they can.”
CPOC says preparing for surgery reduces complications by 30 to 80 percent and reduces the time patients spend in the hospital by one to two days.
He also wants hospitals to focus more on rehabilitation, encouraging patients to drink, eat and move as soon as possible after surgery.
And it says better discharge planning can reduce readmissions by 11.5 percent, which can reduce waiting lists and costs.
Dr David Selwyn, director of the CPOC, said: “NHS waiting lists are at record levels but could be dramatically reduced by transforming the surgical pathway.”
‘The NHS could greatly improve its efficiency and improve patient outcomes by turning waiting lists into readiness lists, taking simple steps to get patients drinking, eating and moving around after surgery and better planning for discharge.
‘The potential for the NHS to increase the number of successful operations and save millions of pounds is huge, but first we need some additional investment to turn best practice into a transformation of the way we care for patients.
“The evidence for these interventions is there, we just need to implement them.”
The CPOC says implementing these policies would save the NHS money, but claims settlement costs are a barrier.
He would like to see the Government invest in a £100m ‘NHS efficiencies transformation fund’, which would be allocated to trusts to implement the proposals.
The CPOC is run by the Royal College of Anesthetists in partnership with other universities including the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
A spokesperson for NHS England said: “As part of our Elective Recovery Plan, specialist nurses, care coordinators and doctors offer personalized plans for patients before their surgical procedure, which may include support to stop smoking, lose weight and assistance with mental problems”. Health: increases people’s chances of recovering quickly and helps reduce the number of operations that are canceled that day.’