COVID-19 and Inequality: An analysis of inequity of access to remote NHS healthcare

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**www.healthwavehub.com**The way we design public services is always changing. Technology increasingly plays a central role in ensuring that people can access vital assistance and high quality support equitably. We all want to be able to deliver and access responsive and tailored public services - but solutions can sometimes appear complex and difficult to put into action. Our mission at Healthwave is to engage with communities at specific, hyper-local levels. We surface the frictions and enablers to change, empowering communities to inform the way services are designed and delivered.**Healthwave Limited - what we do**We're a modern research team gathering independent insights for commercial use by healthcare organisations to help shape the way healthcare is delivered. Our unique solution gathers insights from those on the frontline and within our communities who are better placed to evaluate impact and influence change. Themes and interventions are visualised through our client-facing hub showing results and opportunities in near real time to drive rapid learning and decision making.**Our Work during COVID-19**Healthcare provision has changed through the rapid implementation of digital and remote methods of service delivery due to COVID-19\. There has been little focus on how this change has impacted patients isolated by the new digital shift. The literature on digital exclusion shows three indicators as consistently strong predictors of internet access and use: age, education, and disability (Helsper & Reisdorf, 2017). However, these studies were not conducted within the context of a UK-wide change in how care is delivered. This study helps fill this gap by providing insights into the frictions to accessing and engaging with digital and remote delivery methods due to COVID-19\.There exists a great potential for inequity of access for certain groups of people with a clear risk of adverse impact on levels of morbidity and mortality. The urgent identification of these patient groups via rapid, widespread, and innovative data capture methods to assist NHS decision makers is now required to plug this gap in provision. This fits with NHS strategic priorities.Our work will help policy-makers and senior clinical staff understand this cohort of patients drawing together all relevant data into a dashboard format. This study will help optimise the technology that has already been adopted, rather than proposing alternatives. Thereby supporting rapid commissioning and decision making processes currently underway in the NHS.