Surgery: Reform
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the document entitled Reforming elective care for patients, published on 6 January 2025, which groups of patients will be offered the prehabilitation services outlined in that plan; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending those services to all patients referred for surgery.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The Elective Care Reform Plan identifies the importance of supporting all patients to take control of their health, for example through smoking cessation and weight loss programmes, as they prepare for their surgery. As well as improving patient outcomes, this can also enable patients to be treated in lower acuity settings, for example in day case settings enabling patients to go home the same day.
The plan states that NHS England will work through Cancer Alliances to support improvements in prehabilitation for people about to undergo cancer treatment. The approach to this will be informed by the Macmillan Cancer Support/National Institute of Health and Care Research guidance for healthcare professionals, which is available at the following link:
An update on this guidance is expected in spring 2025, alongside existing good practice examples.
Current NHS England guidance requires acute trusts in England to adopt earlier screening, risk assessment and health optimisation for adult patients waiting for inpatient surgery, with more information available at the following link:
NHS England will continue to identify and work with areas of England that have programmes in place for different groups of patients waiting for surgery, including prehabilitation programmes to support patients having major surgery and waiting well programmes to support patients having all types of surgery, to learn from and share best practice.
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