Posters for 2026 POPS (Perioperative Care of Older People Undergoing Surgery) Meeting

Introduction Perioperative management of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients warrants specific additions to standard care to prevent degeneration of motor symptoms and complications caused by delayed dosing of dopaminergic medications. Barts Health have produced clinical guidelines for management of inpatients with PD; this audit assesses adherence to this guideline in the context of elective surgical admissions. Method A database search identified patients with PD who had attended pre-operative assessment clinic (POA). Patients were analysed separately in two groups; surgery date pre-guideline

Introduction Frailty is a major predictor of adverse postoperative outcomes, yet routine identification within elective surgical pathways remains inconsistent. National perioperative guidance recommends early frailty identification to facilitate optimisation and shared decision-making, but sustainable implementation at scale has proved challenging. Swansea Bay University Health Board developed and evaluated a digital patient self-assessment pathway using a modified patient-reported Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Following a successful pilot in elective general surgery, the pathway was adopted

Introduction Fascia Iliaca (FI) nerve blocks are recommended for patients presenting with neck of femur fractures to provide effective analgesia and reduce opioid requirements. We conducted a quality improvement project (QIP) in a busy district general hospital to increase the proportion of patients receiving FI blocks and improve compliance with post-procedural safety precautions, in line with Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) guidance. Methods Data were collected retrospectively from the local orthopaedic trauma database and electronic patient records over two separate two-week periods

Introduction Frailty is associated with increased rates of postoperative complications, a quarter of adults undergoing emergency laparotomy are living with frailty. The "Care of the Elderly Surgical Liaison service" aims to provide a comprehensive geriatric assessment for surgical patients aged over 65 years old and living with frailty. The aim was to conduct a general review of the Surgical Liaison service at Royal Bolton Hospital and improve the referral process. Method The project was a retrospective study across a period of 3 years, from January 2023 to December 2025. A total of 730

Introduction An accurate Clinical Frailty Score (CFS) is a good predictor of surgical outcomes and should be documented correctly for all surgical patients. However, this is not always followed in practice. This project aims to identify discrepancies in CFS documentation between Emergency Department (ED) triage and the POPS (Perioperative care for Older People undergoing Surgery) team and explore adherence to POPS recommendations. Method This was conducted by the POPS team in a district general hospital in England. The CFS done preoperatively on vascular inpatients separately by ED triage

Background: Patients with a learning disability (LD) are classified as vulnerable. This group of patients are reported to have a significantly younger median age of death (61 years), and receive poorer quality acute care. The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) acute care toolkit (2022) was developed to support doctors in prioritising specific aspects of care in hospital for these individuals. The national hip fracture database (NHFD) includes patients with a hip fracture over the age of 60 years old, meaning those with a LD who develop frailty younger are excluded. Our aim is to assess whether

Introduction Patients with advanced dementia admitted to surgical wards may experience pain that goes unrecognised due to communication barriers. The PAINAD (Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia) tool, recommended for non-verbal pain assessment, was rarely or never used. This concern was identified through clinical observation and a retrospective review of surgical dementia patients. This audit sought to assess current use of PAINAD, evaluate adherence to local recommendations, and implement changes to improve pain assessment and outcomes. 2. Method A retrospective review was conducted using

Introduction: Developmental idiopathic scoliosis (DIS) is a lifelong musculoskeletal condition, despite decades of research, aetiology remains unconfirmed with theories that implicate genetic predisposition, asymmetric neuromuscular activity, biomechanical loading asymmetry, CNS maturational delay, and hormonal factors. Management is threshold-driven observation under 25 degrees, and from 25 to 40 degrees having brace wearing as optimal treatment, and beyond 40 degrees requiring surgery, leaving no active treatment tier between bracing and surgery. Methods: Clinical observations from a

Introduction: Urinary incontinence further exacerbated by prostate diseases are detrimental to quality of life and functional independence, Real-time Ultrasound (RTUS) provides an objective and non-invasive Pelvic Floor Muscle (PFM) retraining for continence management with older men. RTUS guided PFM rehabilitation in an older male patient with urinary incontinence secondary to prostatic enlargement provides baseline PFM function. Methods: Mandatory fluid fasting with only maximal 250 ml of H2O consumption to expand the bladder as required for transabdominal RTUS imaging. A male prostate

Patients with hip fracture should start rehabilitation no later than the day after their operation (NICE Quality Statement). Only 69% of patients with a hip fracture were mobilised day one post operation in 2025 in North Tees Hospital putting it in the lowest performing quartile in the United Kingdom. Delayed mobilisation is shown to increase the risk of post operative complications such as pulmonary embolism and lower respiratory tract infections along with increasing lengths of hospital stay associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality within the geriatric population. The aim of

Introduction As the incidence of cancer in adults aged ≥65 years continues to rise, so does the complexity of management. Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA)-led interventions have demonstrated a reduction in treatment-related complications and unplanned hospital admissions, support appropriate treatment decision-making and improve quality of life. We evaluated the implementation of CGA through a new Oncogeriatric clinic in optimising older adults undergoing assessment for surgery and/or chemotherapy with colorectal or hepatobiliary malignancy. Methods We conducted a retrospective audit

Boosting Advance Care Planning for Elderly Surgical Patients: Filtering out errors Introduction: The ReSPECT form documents a patient’s preferences regarding care, religious wishes, preferred place of care/death and the ceiling of care within hospital settings. Although clinical recommendations often align with patient preferences, only around half of ReSPECT plans accurately record these personal wishes. Our goal was to improve compliance and quality in documenting ReSPECT forms for elderly patients admitted to general surgery at Bradford Royal Infirmary, which would lead to better patient

Frailty is known to increase rate of post-operative complications, acquired geriatric syndromes, mortality and loss of independence. Despite this, almost three-quarters of UK hospitals are not routinely screening surgical patients >60 years for frailty. At Whipps Cross Hospital, we established a perioperative frailty MDT for urological patients in May 2021. Our project reviews the outcomes of this MDT over the past 5 years Method MDT and urological notes were retrospectively reviewed for all patients discussed in the frailty MDT from May 2021 - April 2026. Data on the MDT outcomes, actual

Introduction Hip fracture carries substantial early mortality risk in older adults, with reported 30-day mortality of 5–10%. Malnutrition is common in this population and biologically plausible as a contributor to adverse outcomes, yet whether it independently predicts short-term mortality — beyond age, sex, anaesthetic risk, and cognitive status — remains uncertain. This study aimed to determine whether admission nutrition risk, assessed using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), independently predicts 28-day mortality following hip fracture. Methods Retrospective cohort study of