A UK Tertiary centres approach to continuing elective procedures during the first wave of the Covid-19 global pandemic

As NHS hospitals in England were requested to suspend elective surgery due to Covid-19 from March 2020, a UK tertiary centre utilised the services available at a neighbouring private hospital (SSH) to continue with elective surgery at a Covid-free site. Core Surgical Trainees were redeployed to the Critical Care Unit (CCU) at SSH to enable patients to undergo surgery with appropriate post-operative care. This study analyses the efficacy and safety of utilising SSH for elective surgeries that require high dependency care post-operatively. The specialities and types of procedures, number of patients, length of stay and outcomes of the procedures carried out at SSH were analysed between 20th April 2020; when the CSTs first started work in CCU at SSH, to the 22nd of June 2020; when the first private patients returned to The Spire. Analysis demonstrated 149 patients admitted to CCU post-operatively and 1 pre-operatively during the given timeframe, from across 8 different specialties, with a total of 5 patients being transferred to the tertiary centre. Procedures included those that had not yet been carried out at SSH. The results indicate that utilising SSH for elective procedures that required high dependency care post-operatively was both safe and ultimately valuable for a number of reasons; continuing with crucial cancer care, aiding in reducing a backlog of surgical work, and allowing surgeons to continue with their training through Covid-19.

Author(s): Holly Victoria Colvin

Abstract | PDF

Share This Article