Consultation: Multiprofessional Capability Framework in Perioperative Care
10 June 2025 - 29 August 2025
As part of the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC) strategy, CPOC is dedicated to educating and developing the workforce. Delivering quality perioperative care requires a workforce equipped to manage patients in different healthcare settings and those undergoing all types of surgery from minor to complex procedures. CPOC recognises the need for better use of the entire workforce through broader training, cross-skilling and a more flexible approach.
Background
In October 2020 the CPOC Board approved a proposal to develop a framework for allied health professionals in perioperative care, in order to help meet the significant demand on surgical services in managing complex patients across their perioperative journey. CPOC were commissioned to undertake this work by Health Education England (HEE), currently NHS England.
The Mulit-professional Capability Framework in Perioperative Care was developed by the Centre for Perioperative Care in collaboration with a wealth of subject matter experts, patients and stakeholders. A list of contributors can be found in the FAQ's later on this page.
CPOC is continuing the development of this work independently of NHS England and is now sharing the draft framework for public consultation.
The purpose of this framework is two-fold: firstly, to describe the capabilities required for a practitioner to demonstrate their ability to manage and enable the holistic care of a person as they consider, prepare for and recover from surgery; and secondly, to develop senior evidence-based understanding of the whole perioperative service in order to help plan, manage and develop perioperative care services.
Why is this needed?
At present, there is no nationally consistent training pathway for practitioners in perioperative care. Components of perioperative services are often delivered by professionals working within defined roles in local NHS Trusts e.g. preoperative assessment nursing, daycase surgery, admission teams, theatre recovery staff, or postoperative rehabilitation, but these disparate roles rarely translate to a true multiprofessional service offering joined-up care across the patient’s journey. The Centre for Perioperative Care is promoting new models of perioperative care, delivered by a workforce trained to meet the increasing demands on surgical services.
The increased complexity of patients presenting for surgery, requiring optimisation, facilitation of shared decision-making and specialist postoperative care and rehabilitation requires specialist skillsets at enhanced and advanced levels. This perioperative capability framework specifies the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to manage and deliver perioperative care benefitting patients, healthcare professionals, and the systems in which they work.
Public Consultation
CPOC is pleased to announce that a public consultation is now open for the draft Multiprofessional Capability Framework in Perioperative Care.
Below you will find:
- A copy of the draft framework
- A link to the survey to submit your comments
- If you wish to provide additional feedback outside of the survey option, please complete and return this form
- FAQs
Please review the draft framework and submit any comments via the survey. The consultation will close 29 August 2025.
Unfortunately we will be unable to respond to every consultation submission directly but we would like to thank you for taking time to provide your important feedback. All feedback will be reviewed and considered.
If you have any queries about this consultation please contact CPOC@rcoa.ac.uk
Click here to complete the survey
FAQs
29 August 2025
This consultation relates to the content of the capability framework for perioperative care. Perioperative Medicine and how this is to be delivered at local and four nations level will be agreed once the detail of the capability framework has been approved. Whilst suggestions regarding implementation of the capability framework are welcome; please bear this in mind when submitting your feedback.
This framework describes clinical capabilities for nursing and allied healthcare professionals (AHPs) working with people who are considering, preparing for or recovering from surgery:
interpreting early health screening
performing a comprehensive preoperative assessment and examine as necessary
synthesise information including test results and use clinical reasoning to formulate a shared management plan before surgery
postoperative care, supporting patients recovering from surgery
This work can be conducted at different parts of the patient journey, in different healthcare environments, working within multidisciplinary teams and practitioners may come from various registered healthcare professional backgrounds including:
Nurses
Pharmacists
Operating Department Practitioners
Occupational Therapists
Physiotherapists
Dietitians
Other practitioners may use elements of this capability framework to develop and enhance their existing roles, subject to their own regulatory specifications.
The purpose of the capability framework is to describe the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for a practitioner to manage and enable the holistic care of a person as they consider, prepare for and recover from surgery. The Capability Framework specification aligns with the multi-professional Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) framework published in 2017 and the intention is that practitioners from registered professional backgrounds can develop expertise in leading perioperative care teams.
Enhanced practice
Enhanced practice (EP) within the regulated healthcare workforce covers experienced, graduate professional workforce delivering most of the clinical activity. This is a highly valued, broad and essential level of practice within the workforce for whom training and development is vital to build safe and effective services, workforce productivity and staff retention.
The enhanced practice workforce has many job titles and roles across many different regulated professions. They undertake post-registration education relevant to their profession, area of practice and role. Although they can work across different settings, they will often have a skillset and depth of knowledge related to a specific sphere of practice. Enhanced practice can be a precursor to advanced practice, or a role in itself offering patients a consistent, highly valued level of expertise.
Advanced practice
Advanced practice is a level of practice for statutory regulated healthcare professionals delivering clinical activity beyond the level of enhanced practice. Advanced practitioners apply skillsets that may have traditionally been the remit of other disciplines, including medicine, so they can offer flexibility and consistency to employers as well as improving the care and experience of patients. Advanced Practice is defined as ‘a level of practice characterised by a high degree of autonomy and complex decision making. This is underpinned by a master’s level award or equivalent that encompasses the four pillars of clinical practice, leadership and management, education and research, with demonstration of core capabilities and area specific clinical competence.’ Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England. NHS, 2017.
Advanced level capabilities reflect level 7 descriptors to support and make clear the expectation that people working at this level are required to operate at master’s level i.e., to have the ability to make sound judgements in the absence of full information and to manage varying levels of risk when there is complexity and uncertainty.
This capability framework acknowledges that the training pathway towards advanced practice is different for each individual. Practitioners will demonstrate their capabilities in different ways, depending upon the nature and scope of their role and professional background.