The Case for Perioperative Care

Published: 11/11/2019

The Challenges

The challenges we are currently facing in perioperative care are:

  • £16billion is spent on elective surgical care in England each year.
     
  • 10 million patients have surgery every year, and this number is rising.
     
  • Long-term conditions: 25% of the population in England have one.
     
  • An aging population: it is great news that people are living longer, but this does leave us with challenges.
     
  • Intensive care capacity: less than 1 in 5 non-cardicac surgery patients are admitted to ICU.
     
  • High-risk patients are a minority, but account for 4 in 5 deaths after surgery.
     
  • Screening patients for long-term harm: there is currently no system in the UK to screen patients in this manner, for issues such as heart failure or deteriorating kidney function.