Outpatient activity
Overall, 568 patients were seen in our clinic over the 7-week period of lockdown (table 1). An average of 49 patients were admitted per day. Most (n=529, 93.3%) patients were ambulatory and came from the neighbourhood. More than half (n=306, 53.9%) of the patients had no recent ENT history. Twenty-two percent (n=126) patients were diagnosed with head and neck cancer before lockdown. The majority of patients were seen within normal working hours (n=55, 98.2%) and Wednesday was the busiest day of the week. One third of patients presented without appointment (n=206, 36.3%). Two thirds of patients were referred by an ENT surgeon, either an ENT surgeon from another hospital or private practice, or as part of the follow’up by our ENT team. Almost forty percent patients (n=225, 39.6%) underwent a minor ENT procedure, mainly post-operative care, but also ear suction, epistaxis management, immunotherapy, foreign body removal, biopsy, abscess puncture, tracheostomy care, nasogastric tube insertion and Semont maneuver for paroxysmal positional vertigo. More than a quarter of admissions (n=157, 27.6%) resulted in no specific ENT treatment. One fifth of patients (n=117, 20.6%) required ambulatory treatment. Seven patients required admission to the ward (n=7, 1.2%), mostly for intraveinous antibiotic. Sixty-two patients required surgical treatment (n=62, 10.9%), mainly head and neck cancer cases.