Asthma in general practice: COVID-19 pandemic
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Management of asthma in primary care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative longitudinal study with patients
IRAS ID
304797
Contact name
Marta Wanat
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford/Clinical Trials and Research Governance
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 29 days
Research summary
Asthma is a common condition which affects around 5.4 million people in the UK. Most patients with asthma are monitored by their GP practice at least once a year. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruption to GP practices’ ability and capacity to assess and review asthma patients.
This may in turn have created several challenges for patients, including a) difficulties managing their asthma by themselves at home; b) being unsure when and how to seek help when experiencing asthma-like symptoms; c) experiencing changes to their consultations (e.g. asthma reviews being conducted remotely or postponed); d) deterioration in other conditions which impact on their asthma (e.g. mental health conditions).
Our study aims to explore asthma patient experiences of asthma management in primary care in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by conducting interviews with 10 to 15 asthma patients. We want to study these experiences over time; we know that events such as rolling out vaccines may have an impact on GP practices’ workload and resources. This may in turn affect asthma care and patients’ experiences. The exact timing of the interviews may change, depending on what challenges primary care might be facing. However, the first set of interviews is likely to take place in late summer/early autumn 2021; the second set of interviews is likely to take place during the winter period (January-February 2022), and the third set in April-May 2022.
We will use the findings of our study to inform strategies for delivering more patient-centred asthma management from primary care settings during the remaining course of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. This study will be the first step in developing a programme of work on building more robust and efficient systems for providing care to asthma patients which will be more resilient to further challenges posed by COVID-19.REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/LO/0701
Date of REC Opinion
11 Oct 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion