Covid-19 pandemic associated with three-fold increase in demand for diabetes specialist advice

ABSTRACT

Aims: The covid-19 pandemic was associated with legally restricted public movement (lockdowns) and reduced access to face-to- face consultation for diabetes in primary and specialist care. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the pandemic on requests for specialist telephone support. Methods: Retrospective analysis of calls for telephone support before and during the covid-19 pandemic via three separate extensions tailored to specific needs (1) diabetes emergency advice line (direct diabetes specialist emergency advice 08.00-20.00, Monday to Friday and 08.00-16.00 Saturday and Sunday);(2) diabetes general advice line (a 24/7 telephone answer machine, typically used by patients and carers, answered repeatedly Monday to Friday 08.00-18.00);and (3) a diabetes community line, typically used by healthcare professionals in the community. We arbitrarily defined 'pre-covid' as calls up to 31/3/20 and 'during covid' as calls thereafter to 1/5/21. Results: Mean ( ± SD) calls per calendar month (pcm) increased highly significantly 81 ( ± 80) pcm pre-covid to 248 ( ± 72) pcm during covid, p < 0.001. Emergency advice line calls did not increase 15 ( ± 5) pcm pre-covid to 18 ( ± 11) during covid, p = 0.9, general advice line calls increased non-significantly 161 ( ± 19) to 194 ( ± 68), p = 0.1, but community calls increased highly significantly 16 ( ± 6) to 36 ( ± 12), p < 0.001. Although calls rose during lockdowns, the monthly picture was more of a sustained increase after the first lockdown. Summary: The covid-19 pandemic has been associated with a sustained increase in requests for non-emergency diabetes specialist team advice, particularly from primary care professionals in the community.