’COVID-19 free’ hospitals to end cancer surgery backlog

A 'COVID-19 free cold site', set up to carry out non-emergency cancer surgeries, successfully operated on 500 consecutive patients, resulting in no coronavirus-related deaths at 30 days, reports a large cohort study led by UCL and University College London Hospitals. With more than two million* non-emergency surgeries being cancelled globally every week due to COVID-19, researchers say the findings will have a major impact on how healthcare systems are set up and should reassure 'at risk' cancer patients fearful of attending appointments. The study, published on the pre-print server medRxiv and awaiting peer-review, reports on the first 500 patients who had surgery at the University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street, London, during the coronavirus pandemic. To facilitate cancer patients with an urgent clinical need of surgery, the North Central London and North East London Cancer Hub, coordinated by UCLH and supported by UCL, set up a surgery and cancer network involving 14** separate NHS trusts. This hub was part of an approach to manage cancer surgery involving the Cancer Alliances in London and NHS England. Between March 5, 2020 and April 22, 2020, at University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street (part of UCLH), 500 operations were performed, primarily for the diagnosis or treatment of cancer. Of those operations, 44% were performed with robotic or endoscopic assistance, and 61% were classified as major or complex surgery.