Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable children [COVID-19]
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable children:\nthe DHSC-ECHILD-COVID study
IRAS ID
285263
Contact name
Ruth Gilbert
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2019/12/12, UCL data protection number
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
COVID-19 infection and lockdown are likely to impact most on children and young people (CYP) who are vulnerable, including those who need safeguarding, live in poorer families, have special educational needs, or long-term health conditions. In particular, we urgently need to understand the health and social effects of household confinement on vulnerable CYP, given the disruptions and limited access to support from health, social care and education services.\n\nWe focus on two research questions:\n\nRQ1: What are the differences in emergency hospital contacts during the COVID-19 pandemic for vulnerable compared with other CYP? Is there any evidence that differences are related to COVID-19 infection or the secondary effects of lockdown?\n\nRQ2: What is the predicted deferred health care use and what are the long-term health, education and social care outcomes due to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic?\n\nThe study will use a pseudonymised (de-identified) linked dataset for all CYP (up to age 24 years (inclusive)) in England, which will be derived from existing administrative databases of social care, education and hospital records that are held by NHS Digital and the Department for Education (DfE). As vulnerable children are hard to identify in healthcare records, we will identify them through administrative data histories of ever being a Child in Need (CiN), having special educational needs (SEN), a chronic health condition requiring hospitalisation, or combinations of these. Firstly we will assess how patterns of hospital contacts change before, during and after the pandemic for vulnerable groups, compared to other CYP. Secondly, we will examine whether health care use appears to have been delayed during the pandemic, and the likely implications for service providers. These results are important for developing strategies and improving services to help reduce the adverse effects of the current and future pandemics on vulnerable CYP.
REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EE/0180
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jul 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion