287 COVID-19 and Surgical Specialties – Lessons Learnt: A Rural DGH Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the restructuring of surgical services worldwide. We aimed to evaluate pre-operative planning and post-operative outcomes in expedited colorectal surgery (ECRS), emergency general surgery (EGS), and emergency orthopaedic surgery (EOS) during the COVID-19 era at our rural hospital. Method This was a prospective observational cohort study. Electronic hospital systems identified adult patients who underwent ECRS, major EGS or EOS at our site, from the start of the UK lockdown. Results Following exclusion criteria, 98 patients were included in data analysis. Post-operative respiratory complications were seen in 27.8% of ECRS patients, 13.3% of EGS patients and 4% of EOS patients. 2 patients were diagnosed with COVID-19, with 1 COVID-19 associated mortality. Length of hospital stay was reduced for EOS in the COVID-19 setting and this was found to be statistically significant (p value <0.001). Conclusions When compared to the literature, COVID-19 related complications in surgical patients were found to be lower at our rural hospital. This could be due to regional variation in the prevalence of COVID-19. If there were to be a second surge, we suggest NHS Trusts should be given the autonomy to make local decisions on modifying their elective caseload, rather than following a national ‘one-size-fits-all’ guideline.