Perioperative cardiopulmonary exercise testing (PCPET) is increasingly being used in the UK and abroad by anaesthetists and perioperative physicians to evaluate physical fitness (also known as functional capacity) prior to surgery to risk stratify patients, direct shared decision making, pre-operative optimisation and prehabilitation and so improve patient outcomes. A 2017 survey reports that 50% of adult anaesthetic departments in the UK have access to CPET an increase from 32% in 2013 (Huddart, Young et al. 2013), and 17% in 2008.

POETTS has evolved from the National Perioperative CPET meeting which has been held annually in London since 2008. The faculty and delegates at the meeting voted to establish a society in July 2016 to promote standardised practice, deliver training and education in exercise testing and to promote the development, conduct and dissemination of audit, quality improvement and research. The society also aims to develop consensus guidelines to guide practice.

We aim to facilitate collaborative research and the development of contemporaneous risk information for patients by facilitating the establishment of a national CPET database housed in the Health Services Research Centre (HSRC) at the Royal College of Anaesthetists. Having surveyed CPET practitioners nationally, we aim to establish a network of CPET centres on this website to support mentoring and collaboration.

POETTS website