Hospitals in the UK are being advised to delay elective surgeries for anyone who has tested positive for the Omicron variant by at least seven weeks.
The recommendation from health experts is a precaution as the first couple months after being infected with Covid is a riskier period and has been linked to poorer post-operative recovery.
The advice was drawn up by surgery and anaesthesia experts including from the Association of Anaesthetists, Royal College of Anaesthetists and Royal College of Surgeons of England. Their recommendations have been published in the Anaesthesia journal.
However, the advice does state the elective surgery may be urgent enough for it to go ahead without the seven-week wait, saying: “Rather than emphasising timing alone, we emphasise combining timing, assessment of risk and shared decision-making.”
Ideally, patients should have also had all of their Covid vaccines prior to an operation.
Previously, guidance on routine operations by the Centre for Perioperative care recommended that elective surgery should not take place within 10 days of a confirmed Covid infection.
Meanwhile, ministers have already voiced concerns that the waiting list for hospital treatment will not start falling for at least two years.
However, despite a backlog of routine operations, experts say that desire to tackle waiting lists must be balanced with delivering the safest care possible.
Currently, six million people, or one in nine, are on NHS waiting lists in England. Of these, around one in 20 have been waiting - for care such as knee and hip surgery - for over a year.
