When did electives stop?
As infections arcs in Europe start their downward trend, hospital operators are eagerly discussing a return to routine surgical activity. We look at when different countries and cities’ imposed restrictions and when a normalisation could occur.
The infographic below shows when restrictions were imposed by various public authorities. We are assuming that each country will have a similar arc of a one-quarter lockdown. Many operators tell HBI that they are looking at a return to some activity in mid-May or early June and most curtailments on activity occurred in mid-March.
How soon private hospitals can return to normal activity depends both on the number of infected patients and the relationship between the private and public sectors.
In France it is likely to be decided by central government, while in Portugal, the largest player Jose de Mello Saude tells HBI: “The return to “normal” activity is completely dependent on us and on our patients – we start contacting our clients in the current week to begin rescheduling all that activity cancelled in Mar-Apr.”
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Cameron Murray or call 0207 183 3779.
