The National Confidential Enquiry, an independent review into patient outcome and death, has concluded that NHS hospitals must improve their care of elderly patients undergoing surgery. The experts on this review panel named pain management, nutrition and delays as key problems.

The review analysed the care given to 820 people over the age of 80 from around the UK, who had died within 30 days of having surgery. Using case notes and surveys of doctors, they judged that little more than one-third of patients received good treatment. One-fifth of patients were also found to have experienced significant delays between admission and their operations, with pain management missing in many cases.

The UK has approximately 1.2 million people over the age of 85. This number will double over the next five years. Age UK’s Michelle Mitchell said: “This report is a stark reminder that far too often older people in the UK receive second- or even third-rate care in hospital, condemning many of them to an early death.”

Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients’ Association, added: “It’s unbelievable that any acute hospital can be in the business of caring for any patient without an acute pain service. It is also unbelievable that any acute hospital can this it safe to admit elderly patients without the correct specialist team. This would not be allowed in the case of children.”

Dr. Kathy Wilkinson, one of the researchers, expressed hope that the report would be “a wake-up call”.