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Mitigation of Head and Neck Cancer Service Disruption During COVID-19 in Hong Kong Through Telehealth and Multi-institution Collaboration
  • Zenon WC Yeung, FRCSEd (ORL)
Zenon WC Yeung, FRCSEd (ORL)
United Christian Hospital and Tseung Kwan O Hospital

Corresponding Author:albell@mdanderson.org

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Abstract

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been spreading worldwide at an alarming rate. Healthcare workers have been confronted with the challenge of not only treating patients with the virus, but also managing the disruption of healthcare services caused by COVID-19. In anticipation of outbreak, clinic sessions and operation theatre lists have been actively cut back since February 2020 to reduce hospital admissions and clinic attendances. This has severely disrupted healthcare services, leading to accumulating clinic caseload and substantial delays for operations. The head and neck cancer service has been faced with the difficult task of managing the balance between infection risk to healthcare providers and the risk of disease progression from prolonged waiting times. We share our experience in Hong Kong on the mitigation of head and neck cancer service disruption through telehealth and multi-institution collaboration.