Creating COVID-19 surge capacity at an elective surgical centre: a model for perioperative care

Abstract

We provide an initial, brief description of safe relocation of our emergency surgical services from a tertiary teaching hospital to a satellite secondary hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reconfiguration created increased theatre and critical care bed capacity at the tertiary site, while enabling lower acuity emergency services in a repurposed, designated COVID free hospital. The described model can be applied to situations mandating surge capacity at tertiary hospitals, in high income countries.