Current and future use of telemedicine in surgical clinics during and beyond COVID-19: A narrative review

•Telemedicine challenges the current model for delivery of surgical outpatient care.•Telemedicine has been evaluated for use in pre-/post-operative surgical outpatient care.•COVID-19 forced rapid protocol development for telemedicine use in surgical outpatient clinics.•Telemedicine is safe & there are multiple models of how safety can be achieved.•Future applications include enhanced communication, real-time monitoring & improved MDT care.