Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Severe-Acute-Respiratory-Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 is a novel, highly infectious virus that has spread throughout the world causing respiratory disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March 2020. The UK has been severely affected with around 70000 deaths recorded by December 2020. Surgical practice during this pandemic has changed, as peri-operative infections carry significant mortality and morbidity burden. METHOD: Theatre timing from a large volume hospital specifically for HPB-Transplant dedicated theatres were assessed to evaluate the impact of the national/local COVID-19 protocols on service delivery. “Pre-COVID period” was defined by auditing times from ward-to-theatre, anaesthetic induction-to-start of procedure and end of procedure-to-transfer out of theatre for 2 consecutive weeks in October/November 2019. “COVID period-1” and “COVID period-2” were defined as two consecutive weeks during the UK government-imposed lockdown in April and November 2020, respectively. RESULTS: Under the care of the HPB-Transplant team pre-COVID 56 individuals were treated in 30 sessions. Only 16 patients (28.6% of capacity) in 12 sessions were treated in COVID period-1 and 48 patients were treated (85.7% of capacity) in 30 sessions in COVID period-2. Similar times were observed in transferring patients to theatre (p-value=0.265) and induction of anaesthesia (p-value=0.698) across the 3 periods. Significant delays were observed in transferring patients out of theatre during COVID period-1, that returned to near normal timing during COVID period-2 (16.6±12.8 Vs 39.4±10.9 Vs 17.6±10.5 min; p-value = <0.00001). CONCLUSIONS: Despite returning to near normal theatre timings in COVID period-2, we treat fewer patients, adversely affecting waiting lists.