Introduction and Aims: The COVID 19 pandemic has challenged the logistical practices of post-operative follow-up. As several small randomised controlled trials had demonstrated telephone follow-up was safe and effective for selected general surgical interventions, a post-operative telephone clinic was adopted at our institution to minimise in-person contact during the pandemic. In this retrospective cohort study, we compared patient outcomes before and after the introduction of post-operative telephone reviews to further confirm its safety and effectiveness. Methodology: Patients who had selected general surgical operations between 2018 and 2021 across two metropolitan tertiary hospitals were identified. They were allocated to either pre-pandemic (2018-19, in-person) or pandemic (2020-21, telephone-based) cohorts. Demographic and clinical outcomes of study participants were retrospectively reviewed and compared between the two cohorts. A two-sided p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In the selected time frames, 3452 patients met the criteria for telephone review (pre-pandemic= 1894, pandemic= 1558). Overall failure to attend initial post-operative review was lower in the pandemic group (11.8 vs 17.3%, p<0.001), as was the lost to follow-up rate (6.1% vs 13.6%, p<0.001). Discussion of histology results (where relevant) was more often documented in the pandemic group (97.7% vs 95.3%, p=0.004). There was no significant difference in the comparative rates of missed complications at initial follow-up. Conclusion: The use of post-operative telephone follow-up for selected general surgical procedures was safe and effective across primary outcomes, resulting in less non-attendance and loss to follow-up.