Impact of early COVID-19 pandemic events in Singapore on clinic attendance and default rates in a hospital-based ambulatory paediatrics service

BackgroundWhile the impact of COVID-19 on health care seeking behaviour has been well documented in adult studies, little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on ambulatory paediatric care in South East Asia.ObjectiveTo analyse the impact of early COVID-19 events on weekly clinic attendance volumes and default rates in the ambulatory paediatric service of a large tertiary teaching hospital in Singapore.MethodsWe used independent t tests to compare the weekly aggregate clinic attendance and default rates of the different time periods of the early COVID-19 pandemic (early COVID-19, movement controls, release of movement controls).ResultsThe total weekly clinic attendance decreased significantly and default rates increased significantly during the early COVID-19 period prior to the implementation of movement controls. During the period of movement controls, the first visit default rate remained significantly increased despite the postponement of all non-essential first visits. Post movement controls, both the first and follow up visits rebounded to pre-COVID 19 levels. The default rate for follow up visits was significantly lower than baseline in the post movement control period.ConclusionsDecreased utilization of ambulatory paediatric care in Singapore in a pandemic has implications for future pandemic preparedness including both health care resource allocation and health communication.