• Understand the core goals of the Reforming Elective Care plan  
• Appreciate how patient experience, choice, and digital empowerment are central
• Explore what operational reform will look like in theatres and elective pathways

• Identify key drivers behind national elective recovery targets

• Explore new models for list optimisation and theatre utilisation

• Discuss real-world solutions for tackling bottlenecks in perioperative care

• How minimally invasive surgery is changing theatre demands
• The role of pre- and post-operative community pathways
• Improving turnover and reducing delays

• Understand the end-to-end surgical pathway and its impact on patient outcomes 
• Identify best-practice interventions that support safe and effective same-day surgery 
• Evaluate how pathway redesign can drive efficiency and capacity across surgical services

• Describe the evolving landscape of surgical safety through the lens of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) and NatSSIPs2, and how these national frameworks can connect safety science with day-to-day practice
• Apply systems thinking and human factors principles to identify risks, strengthen teamwork, and design safer, more resilient surgical systems
• Evaluate how restorative just culture approaches can enhance staff wellbeing, learning, and improvement in perioperative settings
• Explore data-driven strategies for measuring safety culture and improvement impact
• Commit to practical next steps for embedding sustainable, learning-focused safety culture within their own surgical services and organisations

• How precision perioperative medicine can predict and reduce complications
• Biomarkers, risk modelling and data-driven decision-making
• Personalised pathways to reduce length of stay

This closing panel will bring together clinical, operational and transformation leaders to explore what the next decade of surgical delivery must look like. Panellists will discuss the biggest barriers currently affecting theatre productivity, workforce stability and perioperative safety, and share practical insights on how services can evolve to meet future demand. The session will look ahead to the innovations, cultural shifts and system-wide changes needed to create more resilient, efficient and patient-centred operating theatre services by 2030, leaving delegates with clear direction on the opportunities and challenges, shaping the future.