There is very limited evidence about the relative effectiveness of emergency surgery vs. non-emergency surgery strategies for patients with common acute conditions. This lack of evidence means that there is likely to be considerable practice variation in the NHS in England.

The ESORT study, which was published last night, aimed to compare the effectiveness of emergency surgery or not for five acute abdominal conditions.

Joining us this morning we have three authors of this excellent new paper, Professors Moonsinghe, Hinchliffe and Grieve.