TY - JOUR T1 - Resuming cataract surgery in a high-risk COVID-19 population JF - BMJ Open Quality JO - BMJ Open Qual DO - 10.1136/bmjoq-2020-001116 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - e001116 AU - Haamed Al Hassan AU - Adnaan Haq AU - Elizabeth Yang AU - Evelyn Mensah Y1 - 2021/06/01 UR - http://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/10/2/e001116.abstract N2 - Cataract surgery forms the bedrock of ophthalmic surgery in the UK as one of the most frequent, cost-effective, quality of life (QoL) enhancing procedures performed by the National Health Service (NHS). Elective cataract surgery was postponed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Restarting cataract surgery was a key milestone in returning to normalcy with uncertainty about COVID-19 disease duration.1 Disruption of services can have a severe impact on the QoL of our patients who are mostly elderly. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists published key principles addressing the restoration of services.2Central Middlesex Hospital (CMH) serves Brent, a predominantly Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic population with high morbidity and mortality risk from COVID-19.3 Many preprint articles suggested increased risk of hospitalisation, admission to the intensive care unit and death for people of Black and Asian ethnicity.4 Brent had 210.9 COVID-19 deaths per 100 000; the highest age-standardised rate in England and Wales during the first pandemic wave.5 In addition, the cataract complexity rate for patients operated at CMH is the highest in the country.6 Restarting elective surgery presented a major challenge for NHS London Trusts hit first by the pandemic with greatest impact. There was concern … ER -