Winter appeal 2020: Support pioneering research to beat COVID-19
LIFE/SAVING SURGICAL/RESEARCH
UPDATE - 25 May 2021 - Current fundraised total is £19,577
From early 2020, as localised outbreaks escalated into a global pandemic and the NHS prepared for the impact of COVID-19 on the UK population, all non-essential surgery, surgical training and surgical research was halted. Surgeons and surgical teams throughout the NHS were redeployed to meet increased needs in other areas of medicine and retired surgeons returned to their previous places of work to offer their many in-demand skills.
One thing became immediately clear and remains of paramount importance, we must know more about this new virus in order to defeat it.
Formed in direct response to this emerging need for science and discovery, the RCS England COVID-19 Research Group has drawn together over 50 novel research projects situated across the UK and representing each of the surgical specialties. The projects range in scale and methodology. Each will have a vital impact on our understanding of how to negotiate the coming years of COVID-19 recovery and resilience, whether from the point of view of the patient, surgeon, or policy makers.
The Group’s work will help us understand how the virus affects the patient medically during and after surgery; how it affects existing conditions for which surgery is indicated; how techniques and instruments can be modified or devised to keep patients and surgical teams safe from infection; and how data collection can help us predict trends and needs in healthcare.
The need for research has never been more urgent in our lifetimes. This research will educate surgeons currently in practice and in training; assist us to restart safe surgery; give patients the confidence to consent to surgery, and give our surgical teams greater peace of mind at work; prevent further avoidable infection; enable RCS England to give the best possible advice to government, peers and collaborators; and save lives.
The Group adheres to the research team’s established procedures of robust review and expert support, which guide all our work including our pre-existing collaborators in 1,900 hospitals across135 countries including the UK.
Discoveries made possible by the RCS England COVID-19 Research Group could save your life.
With your support, the COVID-19 Research Group’s projects will provide new services and possibilities for surgeons and patients in the UK and beyond:
- A novel aerosol extractor to reduce infection risk around the surgical wound site during surgery (£5,000).
- Animations in three different languages that give discharge advice tailored to the patient and support the remote management of COVID-19 patients (£8,000).
- Two new UK-wide studies to determine the impact of the pandemic on patients with pancreatic cancer (£10,000).
The COVID-19 Research Group has projects spanning all surgical specialties; learn about them from our website.
CUTTING/EDGE
The Royal College of Surgeons of England has been leading the field of surgical research for several decades; this winter we now need your support like never before.
Please consider making a donation to support our work in increasing our COVID-19 knowledge base for surgeons and patients for years to come.
Support the future of surgery.