Preoperative Care Services for Children and Young People

This Best Practice Guidance covers the care of children and young people (0–18 years old) presenting for surgery, procedures or imaging under general anaesthesia or anaesthetic-led sedation.

The Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC) and the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (APAGBI) have published the Best Practice Guidance for Preoperative Care Services for Children and Young People - setting a clear national standard for the delivery of safe, high-quality care before surgery or procedures.

This best practice guidance sets out how preoperative services for Children and Young People (CYP) should be organised in any hospital providing surgery or procedures under anaesthesia to patients from birth to 18 years. While preoperative assessment in adult pathways is long-established and valued for preparing and optimising patients, comparable recognition and roll-out for CYP services have not similarly progressed. This has created a national variation in the quality and availability of preoperative services for CYP. The aim of this document is to outline a consistent framework that supports equitable, standardised preoperative assessment for all CYP.

Every child or young person requiring an anaesthetic for a procedure or operation should expect to receive a preoperative assessment that meets their medical, physical and emotional needs.