National Clinical Audit of Perioperative Care (NCAPC)

Inclusion Criteria National Dataset

• England and Jersey

• Adults 18 and above

• Elective Major, non-cardiac surgery:

  • Planned 

  • Surgery that involves general, regional or neuraxial anaesthesia with an anaesthetist present

  • Expected inpatient stay

  • Length of Stay >24 hours 

• Non-cardiac surgery

Inclusion Criteria Local Data Collection

• England and Jersey

• Adults 18 and above

• Elective major, non-cardiac, surgery (as above) in one of the four specialities noted:

  • Thoracic

  • Lower Gastrointestinal

  • Gynaecology

  • Orthopaedics 

• Emergency surgery

• Elective procedures undertaken within a hospital provider spell that commenced as an emergency admission

• Outpatient/day surgery

• Minor or cosmetic surgery

• People aged 17 years or under at the time of surgery

The four initial specialties were chosen to provide a balanced and feasible starting point for NCAPC, ensuring broad coverage across surgical care in year one:

• Thoracic surgery – complex, high‑risk procedures above the diaphragm.
• Lower gastrointestinal (LGI) surgery – high‑volume care delivered across both specialist and non-specialist settings.
• Gynaecological surgery – representing surgical care affecting women.
• Orthopaedic surgery – major, high‑volume procedures, often involving older and frail patients.

Together, these areas support meaningful early insight, with plans to expand to additional specialties, including urology and vascular, in future phases.

The list of procedures covered by this audit within the above specialities is currently being updated. If your site undertakes more than ten of the procedures per year, your participation in the audit is expected. Please note, we are focused on patient data from the NHS and publicly funded care in Jersey only.

The National Clinical Audit of Perioperative Care (NCAPC) is a national audit established to assess the quality and safety of perioperative care across NHS settings in England and publicly funded care in Jersey. It covers preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative care and aims to improve quality of care, reduce variation in practice, identify health inequalities and promote best practice.

Hospitals undertaking eligible surgical procedures are expected to participate in NCAPC to help measure and improve the quality and safety of perioperative care. Participation allows hospitals to benchmark their performance against national standards, identify areas for improvement and support better outcomes and experiences for patients.

NCAPC collects information related to the perioperative care process and surgical outcomes. The information is used to evaluate how care relates to evidence based practice, identify variation between services, support quality improvement activities and inform national reporting. Any information collected is managed securely and in line with data protection and NHS information governance requirements.

For more information about data collection, see FAQs for Local Collaborative Leads.

The audit includes adults aged 18 years and over undergoing publicly-funded major elective non-cardiac surgery in England and Jersey with, in depth sampling of selected specialties, including thoracic, lower gastrointestinal, gynaecological and orthopaedic surgery. Emergency surgery, outpatient/day surgery, minor or cosmetic surgery, privately funded surgery and patients aged under 18 are excluded.

For more information about data collection, see FAQs for Local Collaborative Leads.

NCAPC collects data relating to perioperative pathways and patient care before, during and after surgery. This may include information about the patient, their surgery, perioperative assessment, treatments, complications and outcomes. The exact dataset is being developed through national clinician and patient consensus processes and will be available soon.

For more information about data collection, see FAQs for Local Collaborative Leads.

Data is expected to become automatically collected locally by participating hospitals using audit data collection systems, existing electronic hospital records and national datasets. NCAPC is aiming for an automated data collection model to reduce burden on hospital staff.

For more information about data collection, see FAQs for Local Collaborative Leads.

There is no direct financial cost for hospitals to participate in NCAPC. However, hospital leadership are expected to support local participation through prioritising time and resources for data input and output utilization for improvement.

Participation is expected for hospitals undertaking eligible procedures covered by the audit. National clinical audits commissioned through the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP) are an important part of improving healthcare quality and patient outcomes across the NHS. NCAPC, as part of the NCAPOP, also forms part of a trust’s Quality Accounts.