Key result
New preoperative blood pressure guidelines lack the primary care resources needed to prevent cancellations.
Why the study?
New national guidelines aim to reduce nearly 1% of last-minute cancelled NHS operations by setting standards for blood pressure information GPs send to surgeons.
Implementation risks overburdening GPs without support; leaves open how to integrate resources for effective preoperative BP control.
Apparently, some people have high blood pressure as they are being dressed in an indiscreet gown and wheeled through the operating theatre doors. Reassuringly therefore, new national guidelines attempt to significantly reduce the nearly 1% of last-minute cancelled operations in the NHS amounting to about 100 each day.1 The good idea is to set standards about the blood pressure information GPs send to surgeons. The implication is that a large measure of the problem is down to GPs referring patients with dodgy blood pressure. Are we simply ignorant of our patients’ vital signs under these circumstances or are we knowingly sending them on a fool’s errand? Whichever it is, this …
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Saul Miller (2016) conducted a letter in High blood pressure. The author argues that new national guidelines requiring general practitioners to better manage preoperative blood pressure to prevent surgical cancellations lack necessary resources and integration.
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