• Malwattage Lara Tania Jayatilaka, Mohammed As-Sultany, Ayman Gabr, Luke Thornton, Simon Graham, Lyndon Mason, Nicholas Greville Farrar, and COVI-ORTH UK.
• Trauma and Orthopaedics, Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Leighton Hospital, Middlewich Road, Crewe, CW1 4QJ, UK. Electronic address: larajayatilaka@gmail.com.
• Surg J R Coll Surg E. 2021 Dec 1; 19 (6): e331-e337.

IntroductionCOVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on the 11th of March 2020 with the NHS deferring all non-urgent activity from the 15th of April 2020. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on Trauma and Orthopaedic trainees nationally.MethodsTrauma and Orthopaedic (T&O) specialty trainees nationally were asked to complete an electronic survey specifically on the impact of COVID-19 on their training. This UK based survey was conducted between May 2020 and July 2020.ResultsA total of 185 out of 975 (19%) T&O specialty trainees completed the survey. Redeployment was experienced by 25% of trainees. 84% of respondents had experienced a fall in total operating numbers in comparison with the same time period in 2019. 89% experienced a fall in elective operating and 63% experienced a fall in trauma operating. The pandemic has also had an effect on the delivery of teaching, with face to face teaching being replaced by webinar-based teaching. 63% of training programmes delivered regular weekly teaching, whilst 19% provided infrequent sessions and 11% provided no teaching.ConclusionThis study has objectively demonstrated the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all aspects of T&O training.Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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