The Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP), the UK’s leading organisation dedicated to progressing safer surgery, has announced the launch of The Big Perioperative Natter; a landmark live online experience for everyone working in operating theatres across the country.
This is not something you watch. This is something you take part in. The Big Perioperative Natter brings together thousands of perioperative professionals, nationwide, for real, one-to-one conversations with peers who understand exactly what it is like to work in today’s operating theatres.
From operating department practitioners to theatre nurses, scrub staff, anaesthetists, support teams, and surgeons, this is a rare opportunity to step up to a virtual watercooler; a space for honest conversations with fellow practitioners who live the same pressures, challenges and responsibilities every day.
Taking place on Wednesday 4 March 2026 from 7pm – 8pm, The Big Perioperative Natter is not a webinar, survey, lecture or panel discussion. It is a live, interactive event where, after an opening welcome with instructions, participants are paired into a series of short, one-to-one conversations with peers. You can have your camera on or off, it is entirely up to you, and you can join by simply clicking a link.
Each conversation lasts seven to ten minutes, and hundreds of these conversations happen simultaneously, all across the UK. Everyone taking part is speaking to a real person, a fellow perioperative practitioner, at the same time, creating a shared national experience.
The conversations focus on the issues affecting perioperative practitioners right now; what is impacting safety, workforce wellbeing, team functioning and professional practice. These are candid, human conversations about the realities of working in operating theatres today. The first AfPP Natter, titled ‘Your Voice: Understanding Your Needs in Practice’ will focus on training, education, support, and what helps you feel fulfilled in your perioperative career.
To enable complete openness, all conversations are fully anonymous. Participants can speak freely, knowing their identity is protected and that what they say cannot be attributed to them individually.
While the conversations themselves are private, their collective impact is not. The overall outputs, insights and themes will be synthesised electronically into key findings, shared with practitioners after the event. This ensures that what is said in the conversation helps shape understanding, influence thinking and inform future support for the profession.
Alex Duke, CEO of AfPP, said: “The Big Perioperative Natter creates a moment where the operating theatre community speaks directly to itself, honestly, openly and in real time. These one-to-one conversations generate insight you simply cannot capture any other way.”
The Big Perioperative Natter is about more than networking. It is about collective voice, shared experience and national insight, bringing together hundreds of simultaneous conversations into a single, powerful picture of perioperative practice in the UK.
Everyone who takes part helps define what matters most right now. Participation is open to all operating theatre practitioners nationwide. If you are invested in safer surgery, professional practice and the future of perioperative care, don’t miss this free live opportunity to have your say.
Sign up here: https://app.natter.co/event-public/1274581.
