Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations: beyond a major disaster

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Emergency Medicine
• Event Management

Background:

• Large public gatherings pose significant challenges to healthcare services.
• Assessing the impact of major events on emergency departments is crucial for resource planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effect of Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations on the city's accident and emergency (A&E) service.
• To determine the volume and nature of patient presentations during the event.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of patient data from the A&E department.
• Data collection covered a three-day period coinciding with the Hogmanay celebrations.

Main Results:

• Over 350,000 attendees at Hogmanay.
• 1151 new patients presented to A&E, with half arriving in the first 24 hours.
• 36 patients required emergency resuscitation, and 8 died in the department.

Conclusions:

• The patient influx rivaled major disaster scenarios in the UK.
• While no deaths were directly attributed to the event, the severity of cases was comparable to major incidents.
• The safety of large-scale public celebrations like Hogmanay for A&E services is questionable.