WP5.3 - Rejuvenating the golden patient protocol in a tertiary centre general surgical emergency theatre Free

Poor patient flow and complex sub-specialty decision making discussions lengthened time to operation of lower priority operations e.g. appendicectomy/abscesses. By prioritising start times and registrar patient selection for low complexity cases/day case discharge, we rejuvenated the golden patient protocol (GPP) and assessed the implementation and impact of a novel GPP in a tertiary centre emergency list on surgical wait times and overall theatre flow.

The GPP was agreed between surgical/anaesthetic night registrars and theatre staff which took into consideration the urgency of the surgery, fitness of patient and anaesthetic/technical difficulties. Eligible patients were identified prior to 08:00 and scheduled as the first case of the day to be huddled and sent for by 08:30. Two cycles were conducted, one month before and after GPP introduction, using the trust theatre management system (TMIS).

Time series analysis was conducted for patient sent-for, anaesthetic room entry, and procedure start times during both cycles. Results indicated a median decrease of 11-minutes in patient sent-for time (Cycle 1: 08:56, Cycle 2: 08:45) and a 12-minute reduction in median procedure start time (Cycle 1: 09:42, Cycle 2: 09:30). The proportion of low complexity cases performed first-on-list also increased by 22.5% (Cycle 1: 35.5%, Cycle 2: 58.0%).

This analysis demonstrates a positive change by starting theatre faster with lower complexity cases, developing surgical registrar independence, improving time to treatment without complex discussions delaying first send.