Using data to improve public health: COVID-19 secondment

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The COVID-19 pandemic has placed large pressures on the NHS. Initially faced with an uncertain future, the NHS responded through cancelling all non-emergency care to make space to treat patients with COVID-19. While the NHS has demonstrated greater resilience during subsequent waves, there has still been considerable ongoing disruption to the delivery of health care. Cancer screening programmes have been postponed, non-essential surgeries delayed, and GPs have consulted with patients online or via telephones. Some people were discouraged from seeing their GP or visiting a hospital for fear of catching COVID-19 or not wanting to take up resources during a pandemic. It is plausible that this disruption may have negatively impacted people's health. Where screening was delayed, diseases may have not been diagnosed as early as normal, meaning that when people started treatment they were sicker and treatment was less successful. Delayed care might mean that treatable conditions worsen, impacting people's quality of life. Waiting lists have grown, meaning that people wanting to access new care now face longer waits than before which could have longer-term consequences. While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone, the largest health impacts have been experienced among the most disadvantaged communities and it is likely that the disruption of health care will also have had a greater impact on these communities.This fellowship will study the impacts of health care disruption in the UK. It will describe the extent of healthcare disruption, identify which parts of the NHS have been affected most, examine who this disruption has affected and how it varies across the UK. We will examine the experiences of those individuals affected by disruption, including whether it has impacted their health, wellbeing and quality of life.