title: Where are we in perioperative medicine for older surgical patients? A UK survey of geriatric medicine delivered services in surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  national reports have highlighted deficiencies in care provided to older surgical patients and suggested a role for innovative, collaborative, inter-specialty models of care. The extent of geriatrician-led perioperative services in the UK (excluding orthogeriatric services) has not previously been described. This survey describes current services and explores barriers to further development.
  
  
  METHODS
  an electronic survey was sent to clinical leads for geriatric medicine at all 161 acute NHS health care trusts in the UK. Reminders were sent on three occasions over an 8-week period. The survey examined preoperative and postoperative care and organisational issues. Responses were analysed descriptively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  there were 130 respondents (80.7%). One-third (38) of respondents described providing some geriatric medicine input in older surgical patients. Preoperative services existed in 15 (12%), where 14 provided risk assessment and 13 preoperative optimisation. Twenty-six respondents (20%) delivered care postoperatively, of them 10 took a reactive approach, 11 a proactive approach and 5 provided a combination of reactive and proactive care. Barriers to establishing perioperative geriatric medicine services included funding, workforce issues and a lack of inter-specialty collaboration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  a national appetite exists to provide geriatrician-led services to older surgical patients yet the majority of existing services remain reactive and do not use comprehensive geriatric assessment as an organising principle. This survey suggests that funding for geriatricians in perioperative care has not yet been universally established. Future efforts should focus on dissemination of experiential knowledge and published resources, collaboration with commissioners and empirical research to overcome the barriers described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ageing and Health, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, St Thomas' Hospital, London SE1 7EH, UK.
authors.forename: Judith S L
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Partridge
authors.affiliation: British Geriatrics Society, London, UK.
authors.forename: Geraint
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Collingridge
authors.affiliation: Healthcare for Older People, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, Notts, UK.
authors.forename: Adam Lee
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.affiliation: Department of Ageing and Health, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, St Thomas' Hospital, London SE1 7EH, UK Institute of Gerontology, Kings College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Finbarr C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ageing and Health, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, St Thomas' Hospital, London SE1 7EH, UK.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Harari
authors.affiliation: Department of Ageing and Health, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, St Thomas' Hospital, London SE1 7EH, UK.
authors.forename: Jugdeep K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Dhesi
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D019990:Perioperative Care / Q000639:trends*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: clinical pathways; health services; liaison geriatrics; older adults; perioperative medicine