Upskilling the surgical workforce for vascular access provision during the COVID-19 pandemic – The Salisbury experience

A vascular access device is defined as a catheter inserted into veins allowing fluids and medicines to be delivered intravenously(1). The need for such devices in acutely unwell patients has remained steady throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe here our experience of up-skilling the resident plastic surgery and maxillofacial surgical registrars to provide a vascular access service to reduce the workload on our intensive care colleagues. We hope that our practice and an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to the utilisation of baseline skills within the existing workforce will inform other departments to help ease the burden on critical care departments as we progress through the next stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.