Cancelled elective surgery to resume

Preparations are under way for NHS Ayrshire & Arran to resume some elective procedures.

It follows new figures released this week by the Scottish Government's Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland which show the number of operations in Ayrshire and Arran dropped by 90 per cent in April, compared with the same month in 2019.

There were 168 scheduled elective operations in April 2020, compared with 1,698 in April 2019. Looking at the change between March 2020 and April 2020, the drop was 86 per cent – from 1,229 to 168.

While the health board has been able to continue providing emergency surgery, as well as some cancer surgery and some urgent surgery during the initial phase of the local response to the coronavirus pandemic, other procedures were suspended during this time.

A limited number of clinically urgent procedures will now resume over the coming weeks, with initial priority areas as follows:

z Cancer surgery, including colorectal and upper GI surgery

z Endoscopy and colonoscopy procedures

z Cardiac procedures and investigations, for example, pacemaker battery replacements and urgent cardiac physiology investigations

z Clinically urgent and time-sensitive procedures across all surgical specialties.

Medical director Dr Crawford McGuffie said: ‘In line with other health boards across the UK, NHS Ayrshire & Arran is resuming a small number of clinically urgent elective operations.

‘We will be referring to the Royal College of Surgeons guidance on the re-starting of surgery in the current environment and their guidance on the relative prioritisation of different procedures.

'Patient safety is our number one priority.

‘We have introduced new infection control measures to keep patients as safe as possible before, during and after their operation.

‘Our dedicated teams are working hard to minimise the risk as a result of exposure to COVID-19.

‘Although the way we are delivering services has changed, your NHS is still open. I would like to thank the public for its continued support at this time,' he added.

There will be some changes to how pre-assessment checks will take place.

These will be explained clearly to any impacted patients while planning for their elective surgery.