Emergency general surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims The global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted upon the delivery of surgical services worldwide. This study investigated its impact on emergency general and vascular surgical activity at a tertiary level hospital in the mid-west of Ireland. Methods Data was retrospectively sourced from the Hospital-In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) national data collection service from March 1st through May 31st of 2019 and 2020. Results Records of 1303 patients admitted acutely to general and vascular surgical on-call teams during the two study periods were reviewed. There was no significant difference in the weekly admission rate between 2019 and 2020 (mean 42.15 vs. 49.92). The overall procedural intervention rate decreased from 47.44% [278] in 2019 to 32.01% (209) over the same period in 2020 (OR 0.52, p <0.0001), largely due to a significant decrease in the number of patients undergoing operative intervention (37.88% [222] vs 22.66% [148]). There was a significant decrease in the proportion of patients undergoing surgery for appendicitis (94.87% [112] vs 60.58% [64]). Length of stay for patients admitted in 2020 was shorter than for those in 2019 (mean 7.2 vs 15.5 days). Conclusion In contrast to recently published data, we found no decrease in acute surgical presentations, though there was a significant reduction in acute procedural activity.