1. Safety of emergency, elective and day case operating during the winter period at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust: lessons from the outcomes of 4,254 surgical patients from the first COVID-19 wave.
- Author
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Parikh S, Cooper L, Matthews W, Khan M, Syed S, Vasudevan SP, Brosnan C, Barr L, and Loeffler M
- Subjects
- Ambulatory Surgical Procedures standards, Ambulatory Surgical Procedures statistics & numerical data, COVID-19 complications, COVID-19 diagnosis, COVID-19 transmission, COVID-19 Testing standards, COVID-19 Testing statistics & numerical data, Elective Surgical Procedures standards, Elective Surgical Procedures statistics & numerical data, Emergency Service, Hospital standards, Emergency Service, Hospital statistics & numerical data, Emergency Treatment standards, Emergency Treatment statistics & numerical data, England epidemiology, Female, Hospital Mortality, Humans, Incidence, Infection Control standards, Infection Control statistics & numerical data, Length of Stay statistics & numerical data, Male, Pandemics prevention & control, Pandemics statistics & numerical data, Patient Admission standards, Patient Admission statistics & numerical data, Retrospective Studies, SARS-CoV-2 isolation & purification, State Medicine standards, State Medicine statistics & numerical data, Ambulatory Surgical Procedures mortality, COVID-19 epidemiology, Elective Surgical Procedures mortality, Emergency Treatment mortality
- Abstract
Background: There is limited evidence on perioperative outcomes of surgical patients during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform continued operating into the winter period., Methods: We retrospectively analysed the rate of 30-day COVID-19 transmission and mortality of all surgical patients in the three hospitals in our trust in the East of England during the first lockdown in March 2020. All patients who underwent a swab were swabbed on or 24 hours prior to admission., Results: There were 4,254 patients and an overall 30-day mortality of 0.99%. The excess surgical mortality in our region was 0.29%. There were 39 patients who were COVID-19 positive within 30 days of admission, 12 of whom died. All 12 were emergency admissions with a length of stay longer than 24 hours. There were three deaths among those who underwent day case surgery, one of whom was COVID-19 negative, and the other two were not swabbed but not suspected to have COVID-19. There were two COVID-19 positive elective cases and none in day case elective or emergency surgery. There were no COVID-19 positive deaths in elective or day case surgery., Conclusions: There was a low rate of COVID-19 transmission and mortality in elective and day case operations. Our data have allowed us to guide patients in the consent process and provided the evidence base to restart elective and day case operating with precautions and regular review. A number of regions will be similarly affected and should perform a review of their data for the winter period and beyond.
- Published
- 2021
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