He is happy that he can finally quietly investigate the consequences of the corona pandemic. Oncological surgeon Schelto Kruijff of the University Medical Center Groningen will be researching a lot of hospital data over the next two years, in the hope that he can draw conclusions about the consequences of the postponed care.
“We actually all want to know this quickly, quickly, quickly,” says Kruijff. He is a bit annoyed that there are many reports about the consequences of the corona pandemic, while little research has been done on this. “We have to go through the data with a team of researchers and then come up with something good. But that just takes a little more time.”
Kruijff will be given two years for that major study. “That feels pretty fast to me,” he says. But he is not completely alone. He receives help from fellow surgeons from Amsterdam UMC, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital and Flevo Hospital. They will receive a subsidy of 800,000 euros for the research.
He wants answers to many questions. How did patients react to postponement of surgery during the corona pandemic? And what consequences did that delay have for the quality of care? “During the pandemic, decisions were made because there was a shortage. We have to see if we did well, if we could have done better and if we can learn from it in the future, even if we are not in a pandemic. “
Kruijff acknowledges that he can now also conduct investigations that would be completely unethical in a ‘normal’ period. “Look, we’ve had a situation that isn’t going to happen like this again,” he explains. “Screening programs (for example for cancer studies, ed.) have also been stopped for a number of months. You would like to know what happens then.”
For example, the UMCG doctor wants to know whether there is a difference if people come to the hospital later with a disease among their members. “Normally you would never be able to investigate that, because that is not ethically responsible. But if it suddenly does happen, then it would of course be a shame if we don’t see what we can learn from it,” says Kruijff.
Kruijff also wants to know how his hospital colleagues experienced the corona crisis. He wants to know how healthcare staff look back on the care provided and on the forced choices that have been made.
He also acknowledges that the capacity problems in the hospital have not yet been resolved. “Of course we have a lot of burnouts and people sitting at home. After the pandemic we notice that the system was not as strong as we thought, so we will have to row with fewer oars anyway. So I think the more we can learn , the more effective measures we can take, so we can achieve the same thing with fewer resources.”
The investigation will therefore take two years in total. “The first results are coming gradually. I can imagine that some people would already like to have the conclusions next week, but that will not work,” concludes the Groningen doctor.