60 The Effect of the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic on Periprosthetic Joint Infection in Hip Fracture Surgery

Aim To assess whether this change of practice had an effect on the infection rate in hip fracture surgery. Method An audit was conducted to assess the re-operation rate on hip fracture patients over the three months of the initial “lockdown” (23rd March to 23rd May 2020) and compared to the 2 months immediately before and the same period in 2019. Cases were identified from the Theatre ORACLE system (GE Healthcare). Anonymised patient data was collected from the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) and paper case notes. Results During the pandemic period, a total of 45 patients underwent surgery for hip fractures with a median age 84 years (range 28-95 years). These represent similar cohorts to the periods immediately before lockdown and the previous year. The infection rate increased from 0% in the 2019 period to 2.5% prior to lockdown and 11.1% after the lockdown measures were implemented. All infections were in patients who received hemiarthroplasty. The rate of total hip replacement went down from 19.1% in 2019 to 10.0% just before the pandemic and just 4.4% during the pandemic Conclusions There was a marked increase in the number of re-operations for infection in patients who received hemiarthroplasty for hip fractures during the lockdown period.