When a patient turns up unprepared on the day of surgery, the impact extends far beyond one theatre list. It can lead to cancellations, wasted resources, stressed staff, and decreased patient satisfaction. Consent is at the heart of this challenge. Too often, it is treated as a formality, nothing more than a signature on a paper form. In reality, it represents one of the most critical steps in preparing patients safely and efficiently for surgery.
Digital consent is now emerging as a practical way to modernise preoperative pathways. Rather than simply replacing paper forms, it provides a structured, auditable process that supports clinical safety, risk management, and patient comprehension. Done well, it helps hospitals transform their surgical waitlists into preparation lists, ensuring patients arrive informed, optimised, and ready.
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Why Preoperative Consent Is Critical for Safe, Efficient Surgery
Consent is more than a tick-box requirement. It carries weight in three important areas: patient safety, operational performance, and legal compliance. A patient who doesn’t fully understand their procedure or risks is more likely to experience complications and delays. A missing form can stop an entire list from starting on time. And in medico-legal terms, hospitals are increasingly expected to demonstrate not only that consent was obtained, but that it was informed and accessible to the patient.
Studies have shown that incomplete consent and last-minute preparation are major contributors to surgical cancellations. In fact, a Canadian study found that 14% of elective surgeries were cancelled on the day of surgery, with more than 80% of those cancellations linked to administrative or structural issues such as missing documentation, scheduling errors, or inadequate resources – all factors that could have been prevented with better preparation and communication.
For patients, this means stress, frustration, and unnecessary delays in care. For hospitals, it translates into wasted capacity, financial strain, and longer waiting lists.
Why Paper-Based Consent Holds Hospitals Back
Despite the stakes, many hospitals continue to rely on paper consent and manual triage. These systems often create bottlenecks that only appear at the worst possible time: on the morning of surgery.
Paper consent forms can go missing, leaving staff scrambling. Patients may arrive at a pre-admission clinic only for critical information, such as comorbidities or medications, to be identified too late to act upon. Language barriers or low health literacy may mean a patient signs a form without really understanding what it entails. And even when forms are complete, retrieving them for audits or legal review can be slow and inefficient.
The result is unnecessary face-to-face appointments, longer wait times, and increased stress for both patients and staff. In an environment where surgical backlogs are a priority, this model is increasingly unsustainable.
How Digital Consent Transforms Patient Readiness
Digitising surgical consent doesn’t just solve the problem of misplaced forms; it reshapes the way hospitals approach preoperative readiness. By embedding consent into a digital pathway, hospitals can ensure that patient preparation starts earlier, risk factors are flagged sooner, and staff time is focused where it makes the biggest impact.
This means clearer explanations for patients, delivered in accessible formats and multiple languages, often supported by videos or diagrams. Digital systems can confirm comprehension by asking patients to acknowledge risks and alternatives step by step, rather than simply initialling a paragraph. For clinicians, it provides a reliable, timestamped record that is easy to retrieve and audit.
One of the most important benefits is that digital consent links seamlessly with other aspects of the preoperative journey. Rather than existing in isolation, it becomes part of a wider process that includes risk screening, patient education, and informed financial consent. This integration helps ensure patients are not only legally covered but clinically and emotionally prepared.
How Royal North Shore Cut Pre-Op Time in Half
A clear example of this comes from the DIAMONDS project (Digital pathway for Improved Assessment, Management & Optimisation of patieNts for planneD Surgery), piloted at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. Faced with long waitlists and heavy reliance on paper, the hospital introduced a digital platform to manage preoperative consent and assessment.
Over the first six months, more than 3,000 patients were onboarded, with a 90% digital registration rate across all age groups, from 18 to 98. The results were striking. Screening for frailty became six times more efficient. Attendance at face-to-face pre-admission clinics dropped by 22%. And for those who still required in-person assessment, the duration of appointments was cut almost in half. Patients themselves described the system as easy to use.
What Digital Consent Delivers for Hospitals and Patients
The lesson from Royal North Shore is that digital surgical consent is not a “nice to have.” It is becoming central to modern preoperative care. Hospitals that adopt it see tangible benefits: fewer cancellations, shorter admissions, and patients who arrive calmer and better informed.
The impact on operational performance is equally important. With fewer last-minute delays, theatre utilisation improves. Compliance and audit readiness become simpler, as records are automatically stored and retrievable. Staff can spend their time on higher-value tasks rather than chasing paper. And by supporting informed financial consent, hospitals can also reduce disputes and improve trust with patients.
These are gains that matter not only to surgical teams but to executive leadership tasked with balancing patient safety, accreditation, and financial sustainability.
The Future of Surgical Consent Is Digital
Informed, patient-centred surgical consent is foundational to safe surgery. Digitisation is simply the next step in ensuring that consent processes live up to standards. Hospitals that continue to rely on paper risk inefficiencies, compliance challenges, and poorer patient experiences.
The DIAMONDS pilot demonstrates that this shift is achievable today. By embedding consent in digital preoperative pathways, hospitals can move from reactive management of surgical waitlists to proactive preparation of patients. That shift benefits everyone: patients, staff, and the health system as a whole.
Why Preparation Is the Real Key to Better Outcomes
A digital consent software is not about replacing a signature with a touchscreen. It is about rethinking how we prepare patients for surgery in a way that is safer, clearer, and more efficient. The evidence shows it reduces cancellations, improves theatre utilisation, and leaves patients better informed and less anxious.
For hospitals under pressure to improve both outcomes and efficiency, digital consent offers a proven pathway forward.
Download the Informed Surgical Consent Guide or book a demo to explore how Personify Care can help your team streamline preoperative consent and improve patient readiness.
