The COVID-19 pandemic and Urology - reflecting on successful initiatives and lessons in Australia.

OBJECTIVES

To summarise the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on urological practice globally with a focus on Australian initiatives, as the pandemic resulted in radical changes in healthcare infrastructure and policies.

METHODS

We conducted a literature review of the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Excerpta Medica dataBASE (EMBASE) and Web of Science medical databases. The key terms used to conduct our search algorithm comprised of 'COVID', 'wait list or wait time or delay', 'urology', 'surgery' and 'outcomes', and generated 231 articles. Abstracts were reviewed for relevance and 40 studies selected for full-text review. Society position statements and government level press release statements were identified through citation tracking and additionally included.

RESULTS/DISCUSSION: The halt on elective surgical services during the pandemic was deemed necessary to curb infection rates and conserve healthcare resources. However, it resulted in extended wait times and large surgical backlogs with major downstream effects. Australia fared favourably with regards to infection rates compared to international populations consequent upon strict border control, vaccine mandates, and stringent lockdowns. However, similar trends were noted in both oncological and non-oncological urology service reduction, resulting in significant concerns regarding the long-term sequelae of delayed surgery and missed appointments upon patient clinical outcome. Initiatives including collaborative partnerships between public and private hospital sectors, government-funded programmes and adoption of telehealth were successfully established as part of Australia's efforts to stabilise our healthcare system in response to the pandemic.

CONCLUSION

Australia's pandemic efforts have highlighted the escalating imbalance between increasing demand from a growing and ageing population on an already over-burdened system with finite resources. The additional strain of managing post-COVID-19 pandemic fallout in this context provides further challenges for clinicians and healthcare administrators alike. Collaboration by all stakeholders must continue in order to seek innovative solutions to maximise efficiency of healthcare service utilisation, so that quality universal healthcare provision may continue in the future.