Table 3.

Table of priority groups 1–3 for radiotherapy if services are disrupted during COVID-19 pandemic; adapted from NHS England Clinical guide for the management of non-coronavirus patients requiring acute treatment: Cancer

Surgical patients - Categorisation of patients
Priority level 1a •Emergency: operation needed within 24 hours to save life
Priority level 1b •Urgent: operation needed within 72 hours
Examples Urgent/emergency surgery for life threatening conditions such as obstruction, bleeding and regional and/or localised infection/permanent injury/clinical harm from progression of conditions such as spinal cord compression
Priority level 2 •Elective surgery with the expectation of cure, prioritised according to: o Surgery within 4 weeks to save life or before progression of disease beyond operability depending on: • urgency of symptoms • complications such as local compressive symptoms • biological priority (expected growth rate) of individual cancers
Local complications may be temporarily controlled, for example with stents if surgery is deferred and/or interventional radiology
Priority level 3 •Elective surgery can be delayed for 10–12 weeks with no predicted negative outcome