Incoming CPOC Director: Professor Denny Levett

I am delighted to take on the role of Clinical Director at the Centre for Perioperative Care. I look forward to working with colleagues across the NHS and beyond to embed integrated, evidence-based perioperative care that improves patient outcomes, drives system-wide value, and puts prevention and personalisation at the heart of perioperative care.

Journey to Director 

My career has focused on improving outcomes and experience for surgical patients. I work as a Consultant in Perioperative and Critical Care Medicine and Honorary Professor in Southampton, where I have led the development of a multidisciplinary perioperative care service, integrating digital screening, shared decision-making, optimisation and community-based prehabilitation into routine care.

As President of the International Prehabilitation Society and Co-Lead of the Southampton NIHR BRC Perioperative Theme, I have chaired international guidance on surgery schools, shared decision-making, and prehabilitation, and developed accreditation for cardiopulmonary exercise testing. My research includes multicentre  trials and implementation studies exploring the effectiveness and scalability of prehabilitation.

Opportunities for CPOC

CPOC has built a strong national identity over the past six years based on five founding strategic pillars: improving outcomes and experience, empowering patients, educating the workforce, promoting innovation, and influencing policy.  Through close collaboration with multidisciplinary and multiprofessional partners, CPOC has shaped national policy, developed an educational framework for the perioperative workforce, published evidence-based clinical guidelines, and established a vibrant network of local CPOC leads to support implementation across the NHS. These pillars remain central to our mission and provide a robust foundation for the future.

Looking ahead, our work will be influenced by the three strategic shifts outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan:

• From analogue to digital: enabling efficient, data-driven care through digital screening, virtual optimisation, and real-time risk stratification.
• From treatment to prevention: embedding proactive optimisation, prehabilitation, and behavioural support into standard perioperative care.
• From hospital to home: advancing community-delivered models of care that are accessible, equitable, and scalable.

To deliver on this ambition, we will focus on 

• Workforce education and development, including delivery of the Perioperative Care Fellowship and the CPOC-developed Multi-professional Framework for Perioperative Care.
• Implementation support, by sharing learning, co-developing practical toolkits, and scaling proven innovations through our established network of CPOC leads.
• Digital transformation, using technology to streamline pathways, improve triage, and personalise care.

My vision for CPOC is rooted in collaboration — working alongside our partners to build on strong foundations and support clinicians to deliver consistently high-quality, personalised perioperative care that improves outcomes, enhances experience, and adds value across the system.

CPOC will only succeed with your involvement. Whether you are a clinician, manager, educator, researcher, policymaker, or patient advocate, your ideas, experience, and leadership matter. I want CPOC to be a home for shared learning, collaboration, and practical, system-wide action — and we want to hear your views. Together, we can shape a future where every surgical patient receives safer, more personalised, and more effective care.