Impact of lockdowns on critical care service demand in a metropolitan hospital in Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: There is a growing recognition of the impact of lockdowns on non-COVID-19 demand for critical care services. While a reduction in demand has been postulated, there remains a paucity of quantitative data on the extent and nature of this reduction. The present study aims to quantify the impact of lockdown on critical care services, namely ED, intensive care unit (ICU), medical emergency team (MET) and emergency theatre (ET) demand, during the lockdown in Victoria, Australia. METHODS: This is a single-centred, retrospective observational study on critical service demand, comparing activity levels during the lockdown (31 March to 27 October 2020) with the matched time period from 1 ye..