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It's also associated with other risk factors for poor outcomes, including multimorbidity, sarcopenia and disability. Despite the prevalence of these conditions, current perioperative pathways are not always tailored to high-risk, older surgical patients, resulting in unacceptable variation in access to and quality of care across the UK.
Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) can be used to assess and optimise frailty, multimorbidity and other age-related syndromes, reducing postoperative morbidity and mortality with proven cost-effectiveness. Implementing CGA-based perioperative services is therefore key in delivering high-quality and cost-effective care of older people undergoing surgery.
The Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC) has collaborated with the Perioperative Care for Older Patients (POPS) at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, the British Geriatric Society and ‘The Body Coach’ himself Mr Joe Wicks, to help get your patients fitter in 2025.
New Year, new beginnings: the two workout videos cater specifically for patients who require low-impact exercise prior to surgery. CPOC is delighted to collaborate with Joe Wicks to promote the benefits of healthy living and specifically design resources for patients awaiting surgery who may be unable to undertake high-intensity regimes. Our aim with Joe has been to create some great resources, and we hope your patients will find these accessible, helpful, and relevant to their needs.
Critical terms must be clearly and consistently used.
For example, UK law recognises protected titles; ‘general practitioner’, ‘registered nurse’, or ‘paramedic’ have specific meanings, and to use one carries legal weight. Interestingly ‘surgeon’ appears on the GMC’s list of legally protected titles, but ‘anaesthetist’ does not.
While meaning can appear clear from context, ambiguity creates risk. It need not be highly technical terminology to cause problems. Misunderstanding of ‘OK’ contributed to the 1977 Tenerife air disaster, where a tower controller probably intended ‘I acknowledge your request to take off’, but the flight commander understood ‘you are giving me clearance for take-off’. The Boeing 747 accelerated down the runway, and shortly thereafter collided with another aircraft.
If there is one thing we have learnt recently, it is to make sure we engage with you, our members. We need your valuable experience and views to shape the future of the College.
How the College is run for patients, and on behalf of its members
You may remember that back in February we took a single proposal regarding governance of the College to an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), asking members to back a package of measures to change the governance of the College and bring us in line with the laws which govern us in our legal status as a charity.
This proposal, while receiving the majority of votes, did not get the support of the two-thirds of attendees needed to pass it. Listening to feedback after the event, we learnt that members had not felt sufficiently involved in the drawing-up of proposals and that including all the proposals in a single vote was complicated.