The English National Health Service (NHS), and all health services around the world, will continue to face economic and capacity challenges. Quality improvement (QI) interventions, such as Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS), that are proven to improve patient care and deliver operational benefits are therefore needed. However, widespread implementation remains a challenge. Implementation of ERAS within the NHS over the last 10 years is reviewed, with a focus on total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Difficulties with implementation are highlighted, and a recommendation for the future is presented. This perspective is novel in the ERAS literature, and centres around increasing the understanding of perioperative care teams on the need for utilising a recognised QI method (e.g., plan-do-study-act cycles, Lean, and Six Sigma) to implement ERAS protocols (which are a QI intervention) successfully. The importance of differentiating between a QI method and a QI intervention has value across all other ERAS surgical procedures.
Keywords: enhanced recovery after surgery; orthopaedics; quality improvement; surgery.