ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Several public health initiatives in Australia were implemented in March 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19. The effect of these initiatives on surgical provision is unknown. The primary objective was to determine the effect of public health policies and surgical society guidelines implemented during the pandemic on elective and emergency caseload of surgical specialities operating within South East Queensland. METHODS: This observational study utilized non re-identifiable electronic data to quantify the caseload of surgical specialities across five secondary and tertiary referral hospitals in South East Queensland prior to and during the implementation of such initiatives. All patients undergoing a surgical procedure between 1 March and 24 April 2019 and the same period in 2020 were included. Participants' demographic and clinical information, such as age, the American Society of Anesthesiologists score, surgical date and location, surgical subspecialty and procedure name, was included. RESULTS: During the 2020 time period, there were 2991 elective cases compared to 4422 surgeries occurring in the same period in 2019 (32.4% reduction). Meanwhile, 2082 emergency surgeries were performed in the 2020 period compared to 2362 in 2019 (12.0% decrease). Ophthalmology and dental/ear, nose and throat/maxillofacial surgery experienced the largest reduction in elective surgeries, whereas emergency caseload increased for vascular and cardiothoracic services, and only slightly decreased for plastics and urology. CONCLUSION: The public health initiatives and guidance implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced surgical specialties' elective caseload. However, emergency caseload was not affected to the same extent. This insight helps to guide resource allocation in future waves of the pandemic.