Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has greatly impacted healthcare systems and society more generally around the world. The management of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 has primarily impacted emergency departments, medical teams, and intensive care units. However, the impact on health systems as a whole, including surgical specialties, has been wide ranging. We aimed to establish the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown on the number and characteristics of general surgical patients reviewed and/or admitted by the surgical team within a district general hospital. We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of patients admitted in the 2-week period from start of the lockdown (Monday 23rd March 2020 to 5th April 2020), and the same period 1 year earlier (Monday 25th March 2019 to 7th April 2019). Number of patients reviewed and admitted were compared between the two cohorts. Data including diagnosis, operation/procedural interventions, and length of stay were analysed. The overall number of patients reviewed and admitted by the surgical team was substantially lower during the period of lockdown (61 vs 126). Of the patients seen during lockdown, a smaller proportion were admitted to hospital after initial surgical review (59% vs 77%, p < 0.05). Interventional/operative procedures were performed in a similar proportion of patients in both cohorts (31%). Our data show that there has been a substantial reduction in the number of patients being referred to and admitted by the general surgical team at our centre during the COVID-19 pandemic. Explanations for this include reduced attendance due to risk perception of the patients, the impact of lockdown messages and advice regarding self-isolation, as well as an increased threshold for patient admission during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key learning points include the possible benefits of a reduction in admission to hospital of patients with nonurgent conditions.
Highlights
Academic Editor: Christophoros Foroulis e COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has greatly impacted healthcare systems and society more generally around the world. e management of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 has primarily impacted emergency departments, medical teams, and intensive care units
Our data show that there has been a substantial reduction in the number of patients being referred to and admitted by the general surgical team at our centre during the COVID-19 pandemic
Data released by National Health Service (NHS) England have shown that there has been a reduction of 29.4% in the number of A&E attendances in the month of March 2020, compared to the same period last year [4]. ere have been concerns raised that patients with conditions unrelated to Surgery Research and Practice
Summary
Academic Editor: Christophoros Foroulis e COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has greatly impacted healthcare systems and society more generally around the world. e management of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 has primarily impacted emergency departments, medical teams, and intensive care units. We aimed to establish the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown on the number and characteristics of general surgical patients reviewed and/or admitted by the surgical team within a district general hospital. Our data show that there has been a substantial reduction in the number of patients being referred to and admitted by the general surgical team at our centre during the COVID-19 pandemic. Explanations for this include reduced attendance due to risk perception of the patients, the impact of lockdown messages and advice regarding self-isolation, as well as an increased threshold for patient admission during the COVID-19 pandemic. NHS England advised all trusts on the 17th of March 2020 to cancel all nonurgent surgeries for at least three months, to free up capacity for patients admitted with COVID-19 [6]. e Royal Colleges have released guidelines on the management of acute surgical conditions, which include advice to manage conditions conservatively when possible, including acute cholecystitis and acute appendicitis [7]
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