12 March 2025

Frimley Health has helped lead the way in a research trial that could change national guidance for certain surgeries, improving the efficiency of future care.

The PETS study has been looking at whether compression stockings handed out to most people having surgery are necessary or helpful for low-risk patients undergoing low-risk operations.

“The use of compression stockings has been widespread for many years, but the evidence to support this practice has been lacking,” said Clare Rees, consultant haematologist and principal investigator (PI) for the study at Frimley Health. “They can cause skin-related issues, circulatory problems and discomfort, particularly if not fitted correctly, and the costs are significant.

“We performed really well as a trust with recruitment to this study. We were the fifth highest recruiters nationally, and first in numbers for the control-arm, which was considered harder to recruit to. This was entirely down to the hard work of the clinical research practitioners who went to great efforts to identify and recruit suitable patients across sites and to ensure that the VTE risk assessments were completed appropriately.”

Compression stockings squeeze the leg muscles to reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), or blood clots, forming, which can occur among patients who stay in hospital after surgery. However, people having short stay surgery – those who go home the same day, for example – have a much lower risk of developing VTE than those who remain in hospital for longer.

“Hundreds of patients have elective procedures or operations within the Trust every week. For low-risk surgical patients we do not know whether stockings reduce the risk of developing VTE. This study aims to investigate whether they help, or not,” said Luke Forster, consultant urological surgeon and associate PI.

Frimley Health was in the ‘no stockings’ control group for the trial, recruiting low-risk surgical patients with no VTE risk factors and undergoing specified low-risk procedures to be part of the study.

The Trust’s research from 430 patients across Frimley Park and Wexham Park Hospitals will form part of data from 58 sites nationwide and a total of 11,320 patients.

“To be the highest-recruiting site in the control-arm is a massive achievement,” added Luke. “Credit should go to our excellent research nurses and all the staff and patients who have been involved.

“Being part of high-quality research shows patients and staff that we are continuously trying to improve the quality and efficiency of our care.”

The trial is now in follow-up and the results will likely be available towards the end of the year.

Pictured, left to right: Lauren Barnett, Dr Luke Forster and Nicole Kader of the Wexham Park research team; Teena Kunnath, Dr Clare Rees and Tom Davies of the Frimley Park team.