This anaesthesia led paper was produced by a multidisciplinary theatre collaborative made up of anaesthetists, theatre management and the pre-operative assessment team.
It highlights the excellent work of the surgical division in safely re-initiating children’s elective services at a time of great global uncertainty. It addresses detailed perioperative outcomes and the consequences of some the difficult decisions made by those constructing the perioperative theatre pathways.
For children, access to health care, including surgery, has been a reduced during the COVID pandemic. To allow surgical capacity, at Alder Hey and in other institutions, to be built up in an effective and safe way we need reliable data. This paper represents one of several projects being undertaken by clinicians within the department of anaesthesia at Alder Hey, in collaboration with others within the hospital and in other institutions. Other projects include COVID-KIDS (a longitudinal multicentre observational project evaluating the impact of the return to schools on perioperative outcomes) and PIANo-UK an evaluation of PPE induced anxiety in children and young people presenting for surgery. Alder Hey clinicians are also taking part in international collaborations examining surgery during the pandemic: GlobalSurg – COVIDSurg Week, and PAWS-COVID-19.
We would like to thank all those who have assisted in the production of this paper.
Read full paper