Cancer Surgery and COVID-19: Risks and Benefits

20th April 2020

Overview

There has been a worrying picture across the cancer pathway from screening, presentation and referral to diagnosis and through to treatment. Data regarding outcomes from cancer surgery were published from China which described concerning outcomes in the Covid environment. This webinar seeks to explore how the response to these challenges to our trusts and health boards across the United Kingdom have been managed.

It is clear that the public are presenting less and primary care is therefore not referring patients particularly on the two week wait. Screening services have been reduced and staffing issues are a significant concern.

Overall treatment has been hugely affected with many patients requiring major surgery not able to receive it as there are no recovery beds with ventilation and no intensive care beds for complex surgery complications. Disparate decision-making across the cancers is evident. Clinical trials are not happening and post peak planning is absolutely essential. Surgeons are for the most part working without the data they need to provide appropriate information to patients for shared decision-making.

Please join us for this important webinar which aims to tease out the issues to help provide a more consistent approach across the major gastrointestinal malignancies.

Speakers

  • Professor S Michael Griffin OBE, RCSEd President.
  • Professor Stephen Wigmore, Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery, University of Edinburgh. Consultant HPB and Transplant Surgeon, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
  • Miss Nicola Fearnhead, President of ACPGBI, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge.
  • Mr Nick Maynard, President-Elect AUGIS, Lead Cancer Clinician and Consultant Upper GI Surgeon, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Recording


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