ABSTRACT
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in prioritisation of healthcare resources to cope with the surge in infected patients, S18 Cardiology in the Young: Volume 32 Supplement 1 leading tosuspension of routine clinical services, including Transition Care Services (TCS). In these unprecendented times, our TCS decided to adapt and improvise so that we could continue with the transition process. We present our experience of the last few months of COVID-19. Methods: The TCS is well established across the North West, North Wales&Isle of Man Congenital Heart Disease Network with the 2 weekly Transition Clinics in two major Children's Hospitals in Liverpool & Manchester. The team consists of 1 ACHD cardiologist, 3 paediatric cardiologists and 6 clinical specialist nurses. With the sudden shut down there was the expected pressure on the wait lists and with no clear end in sight, our Network Transition Service decided to go “fully” virtual as soon aswe could set up this platform. We improvised 2 different models: 1. Initiallywe established “Fully VirtualClinics” on theNHS virtual platform“AttendAnywhere”,whereby the patient&family, the adult team and the paediatric team could “log-in” and conduct a virtual clinic. Each clinic had an initial 30 minutes of “TeamHuddle” to reviewpatient data. Based on the status and recent investigations, future-plans were made. 2. Once guidelines were eased, we moved to a “Hybrid Clinic” model, whereby the patientwould attend the children's hospital, have investigations and be seen by the paediatric team. The adult team would remotely log in, on “Attend Anywhere”. Results: Over eighteen-week period during the pandemic, 106 patients were booked in for initially full virtual & subsequently hybrid clinics. 81 attended their appointments. 17 did not attend and 8 cancelled their appointments. Conclusions: These models proved a big success, with good feedback from patients/families. Virtual clinics were particularly popular with youngsters. It took away the need to travel, helped maintaining social-distancing and reduced the risk of COVID- 19 in this vulnerable group. To our knowledge, there have been no studies in theUKlooking at the effect of the COVID-19 on the provision of TCS. This experience has been critical for us to provide our TCS in the future.