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COVID-19 and Cardiac Surgery: The perspective from the UK
  • +6
  • Amer Harky,
  • Deborah Harrington,
  • Omar Nawaytou,
  • Ahmed Othman,
  • Catherine Fowler,
  • Gareth Owens,
  • Francesco Torella,
  • Manoj Kuduvalli,
  • Mark Field
Amer Harky
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Deborah Harrington
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
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Omar Nawaytou
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
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Ahmed Othman
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
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Catherine Fowler
Aortic dissection awareness UK and Ireland
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Gareth Owens
Aortic dissection awareness UK and Ireland
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Francesco Torella
University of Liverpool Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
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Manoj Kuduvalli
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
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Mark Field
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
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Abstract

The emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019, presumed from the city of Wuhan, Hubei province in China and the subsequent declaration of the disease as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) as COVID-19 in March 2020, had significant impact on health care systems globally. Each country responded to this disease in different ways but broadly by fortifying and prioritising health care provision as well as introducing social lockdown aiming to contain the infection and minimizing the risk of transmission. In the United Kingdom, a lockdown was introduced by the government on 23rd of March 2020 and all health care services were focussed to challenge the impact of COVID-19. To do so, the United Kingdom National Health Service had to undergo widespread service reconfigurations and the so-called “Nightingale Hospitals” were created de novo to bolster bed provision and industries were asked to direct efforts to the production of ventilators. A government led public health campaign was publicised under the slogan of: “Stay home, Protect the NHS (National Health Service), Save lives”. The approach had a significant impact on delivery of all surgical services but particularly cardiac surgery with its inherent critical care bed capacity. This paper describes the impact on provision for elective and emergency cardiac surgery in the United Kingdom, with a focus on Aorto-vascular disease. We describe our Aorto-vascular activity and outcomes during the period of UK lockdown and present a patient survey of attitudes to aortic surgery during COVID-19 pandemic.
31 Aug 2020Submission Checks Completed
31 Aug 2020Assigned to Editor
03 Sep 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
04 Sep 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
05 Sep 2020Editorial Decision: Accept