Increasing numbers of older people are undergoing surgery (11 million procedures were performed by the NHS in 2016, nearly 5 million of these were in those aged over 65 years), and adverse clinician-reported, patient-reported and process-related outcomes are common within this patient group.
This approach to the peri-operative management of older people undergoing surgery has been developed by leading clinicians in the field over the last 17 years, with extremely good results. The POPS service has improved outcomes by integrating geriatricians into the care pathway of older surgical patients and demonstrates that preoperative Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) and optimisation reduces postoperative complications and length of stay in older people undergoing elective orthopaedic and vascular surgery.