Abstract

We conducted an audit to assess if the COVID-19 pandemic and public health guidance impacted referrals, outcome, and management of early pregnancy in the emergency department (ED). We collected details of women who contacted the ED with concerns related to early pregnancy (under 13 weeks’ gestation) and those who attended the ED with the same complaints over two six-month periods, July to December 2019 and March to August 2020. There was a 38% decrease in women attending the ED, and a 16% increase in women contacting the ED for advice, in early pregnancy during the first wave of COVID-19. Women were more like likely to have been referred to the ED by their General Practitioner (GP) and to have phoned in advance of arrival in 2020. They were also more likely to have already had a previous ultrasound scan in the current pregnancy. There was a significantly shorter waiting time for an appointment in the early pregnancy clinic in 2020 compared with 2019 (3.5 days versus 2.4 days). There was no change in the number of women admitted. COVID-19 changed the way in which women sought guidance and accessed services in early pregnancy.