Welsh Pre-Operative Digital System

Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) is undertaking a preliminary market engagement exercise in relation to an intended procurement for an all-Wales Pre-Operative Digital System.

DHCW is exploring the market for a national digital solution to standardise and modernise the pre-operative assessment process across NHS Wales. Current pre-operative assessment arrangements are fragmented, with variation across Health Boards and a combination of paper-based processes and local digital solutions. This creates delays, duplication of effort, limited data sharing, and can contribute to late cancellations and underutilised theatre capacity.

The proposed solution is intended to support early health screening at the point of listing for surgery, enable risk stratification, support remote pre-assessment where appropriate, improve patient experience, and provide structured data to support audit, benchmarking, and service planning across Wales. Interoperability with existing NHS Wales systems and data platforms will be a core requirement.

The Authority is seeking a solution that is able to, as a minimum:

• Be delivered on an all-Wales basis to support consistent processes, data sharing and regional working.

• Support completion of a national health screening questionnaire when a patient is listed for surgery, with responses immediately available to clinical and administrative staff (e.g., via dashboards).

• Support risk stratification based on questionnaire outputs to assist with appropriate site selection and timely progression through the pathway.

• Enable patients to complete the questionnaire in multiple settings, including at home and in clinical environments.

• Support digital inclusion so that lack of access does not prevent data collection,risk stratification, or access to information and support.

• Capture and store data in a structured format suitable for use in national data repositories and for visibility to staff involved in the pre-surgical pathway (including those not directly using the solution).