COVID-19 and Changes in Neurosurgical Workload in the United Kingdom.
World Neurosurg
; 148: e689-e694, 2021 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1062634
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Cessation of elective procedures and lower bed capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a rise in the waiting lists for surgery, but it is unclear if workload has recovered sufficiently to account for this backlog. We describe the change in neurosurgical workload at a tertiary neurosciences center in the United Kingdom after the first pandemic wave in comparison with the months before and during the first wave.METHODS:
A retrospective review of theatre records and electronic referrals-between December 1, 2019, and August 31, 2020-was performed. The months of December 2019-February 2020 were designated as pre-COVID months and March-May 2020 were designated as COVID months. The time period from June to August 2020 was designated as post-wave months. Statistical analyses were performed on SPSS v22 (IBM).RESULTS:
Referrals declined from 572 in January to a nadir of 352 in April before a steady rise to August. Referral volumes for degenerative spinal disease and traumatic brain injuries showed a statistically significant change during the year. On average, 212 procedures per month were performed in the pre-COVID months, 167 procedures per month during COVID months, and 232 procedures per month in the post-wave months. The number of patients on the waiting list for scheduled operations rose from March (785 patients) onward to a peak of 997 patients in July.CONCLUSIONS:
In the aftermath of COVID-19, higher referral volumes and operative procedures were apparent in the post-wave months as services returned to normal. With the expectation of a second wave of infections, it is unclear whether this will be sustainable.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Workload
/
Neurosurgical Procedures
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
World Neurosurg
Journal subject:
Neurosurgery
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.wneu.2021.01.094
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