Downloaded from http://journals.lww.com/nuclearmedicinecomm by BhDMf5ePHKav1zEoum1tQfN4a+kJLhEZgbsIHo4XMi0hCywCX1AWnYQp/IlQrHD3i3D0OdRyi7TvSFl4Cf3VC4/OAVpDDa8K2+Ya6H515kE= on 01/25/2021 Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. 0143-3636 Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1097/MNM.0000000000001357 Original article Impact of COVID-19 on nuclear medicine in the UK Sabina Dizdarevic a,b , Mahdi Abdulla a , Taha Sewedy a , Charlotte Weston c , Caroline Oxley c , Jilly Croasdale d , Stewart Redman e , Sobhan Vinjamuri f , Christopher Mayes f , Glen Flux g , Mike Ward h , Richard Graham e and John Buscombe i,c ; on behalf of Council and Officers of British Nuclear Medicine Society Purpose COVID-19 brought about unprecedented challenges to healthcare, with nuclear medicine (NM) being no exception. The British Nuclear Medicine Society (BNMS) COVID-19 survey assessed the impact of the first wave of pandemic on NM services in the UK. With COVID- 19 resurge compounded by seasonal winter pressures, we reflect and share lessons learnt from the first wave of pandemic to guide future strategy. Methods A questionnaire consisting of 34 questions was sent out to all BNMS members over 2 weeks in May 2020, to evaluate the impact of ‘lockdown’. Results One hundred thirty-eight members (92 sites) from a multidisciplinary background responded. There was a 65% reduction across all services; 97.6% of respondents reported some reduction in diagnostic procedures and 71.3% reduction in therapies; 85% worked with a reduced workforce. The North East of England, Greater London and South East and Wessex were most affected by staff absences. The North East reported the highest number of COVID-19 positive staff; London reported the greatest lack of testing. The reported time required to clear the backlog was 1–12 months. Seventy-one percent of participants used BNMS COVID-19 guidance. Conclusion The first wave caused a major disruption of NM service delivery and impacted on the workforce. The departmental strategies should tailor services to evolving local and regional differences in prevalence of COVID-19. A blanket shutdown of services with a ‘one size fits all’ strategy would likely have a severe impact on future delivery of NM and health services in general. Timely testing of staff and patients remains of paramount importance. Nucl Med Commun 42: 138–149 Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. Nuclear Medicine Communications 2021, 42:138–149 Keywords: COVID-19, nuclear medicine services, workforce a Department of Nuclear Medicine, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Brighton, BN2 5BE, b Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK c British Nuclear Medicine Society, d Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, West Midlands, e Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, Bath, f Royal Liverpool University Hospitals Trust, Liverpool, g Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London and Institute of Cancer Research, h Curium Pharma and i Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK Correspondence to Sabina Dizdarevic, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCP, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton BN2 5BE, UK Tel: +44 1273 696955 X64868; e-mail: Sabina.dizdarevic@nhs.net Received 22 October 2020 Accepted 1 December 2020 Introduction The WHO declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) as a worldwide pandemic on the 11 March 2020. The first known outbreak cluster was reported in the city of Wuhan, China in December 2019 [1]. As of 11 November 2020, there are 52 069 683 confirmed cases and more than 1.28 million deaths worldwide. Within the UK this num- ber stands at 1260 198 confirmed cases and 50 457 deaths [2]. Nuclear medicine (NM), as with all other specialities, has continued to face challenges adapting to this unprec- edented situation. Early on in the pandemic, The British Nuclear Medicine Society (BNMS) published guidance for the safe service delivery in NM departments during the COVID-19 pan- demic [3] and subsequently recovery phase guidance [4]. Further helpful guidance and instructive commentaries were also published by the International Atomic Energy Agency and colleagues [5,6]. Studies internationally have noted a precipitous decline in both diagnostic and ther- apeutic NM services internationally owing to the pan- demic [7–9]. The UK government has recently announced the reintro- duction of varying restrictions nationwide to deal with a second wave of COVID-19 infections expected to coin- cide with seasonal winter pressures. In preparation for an impending resurge compounded by seasonal winter pressures, we present lessons learnt from the first wave of pandemic to guide future strategy. The aim of this survey was to assess an impact of the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic on NM in the UK. Specifically, we have evaluated changes in NM services provision during the first wave, workforce situation, including redeployment and staff absences, supply of radiopharmaceuticals, availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the presence of and reasons for some regional disparities.