• Sing Chee Tan, Anthony Cross, and Angajendra Ghosh.
• Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Northern Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
• Emerg Med Australas. 2022 Feb 1; 34 (1): 52-57.

ObjectiveThere 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.MethodsThis 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 year prior.ResultsThere was a reduction in presentations to ED (27.2%), MET calls (27.4%), ICU patient episodes (14.5%) and ET bookings (5.8%). There was an unexpected increase in ICU admissions for metabolic diagnoses, comprising drug overdoses and diabetic ketoacidosis, and a reduction in respiratory ICU admissions. There was a reduction across all ED triage categories, which included triage 1 and 2 patients, indicating a reduction even in life-threatening and emergency presentations.ConclusionLockdowns lead to a significant reduction in ICU, MET call and ED demand, and to a lesser extent ET demand. This pattern should be considered in surge capacity and workforce redeployment planning. There are also impacts on public health epidemiology, with potential adverse consequences on mental health and chronic disease management. Further research on the impact of lockdowns on long-term disease outcomes is needed.© 2021 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

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