The real penalty: number of OMFS patients presenting to the emergency department at Sunderland Royal Hospital after England fixtures before and during the 2018 FIFA Football World Cup.

The aim of this study was to establish a link between a large televised sporting event and the incidence of patients presenting to the emergency department with oral and maxillofacial injuries. When compared with daily attendances throughout the year, the mean (SD) number rose from 2.53 (1.69) to 4.00 (1.53) (p=0.005) between 1 November 2017 and 31 July 2018 on the day after an England fixture, an increase of 58%. These data show the need for workforce planning during large-scale national sporting events because of the rise in the number of patients presenting. They show that the increase in workload is caused by a higher number of both traumatic and non-traumatic injuries.