Resilience: Exploring help-seeking for urgent conditions during COVID [COVID-19]

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Resilience of Emergency healthcare systems: Exploring people’s experiences of cardiac, stroke or TIA help-seeking during COVID-19

• IRAS ID

  287907

• Contact name

  Carolyn Tarrant

• Contact email

  ccp3@le.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Leicester

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 28 days

• Research summary

  During the first national lockdown due to the COVID pandemic, the numbers of patients seeking care through emergency departments reduced, as did the numbers of non-COVID acute admissions including for acute cardiac events and stroke. As part of a larger study into the resilience of acute care systems, we aim to understand how approaches to the organisation and delivery of acute care in the COVID-19 crisis impacted patients decisions about accessing services for non-COVID severe symptoms. Understanding how people with non-COVID conditions made decisions about accessing urgent care will enable insight into how services need to be organised, and messages communicated, to ensure high quality acute care for people at high risk from other conditions during a pandemic.
  We will conduct telephone or online interviews with up to 30 people who have experienced a heart attack, TIA (mini-stroke) or stroke during the national lockdown periods between March and May 2020 and from November 2020. We will aim to include people who may experience difficulties accessing healthcare such as people from BAME backgrounds and those caring for people with dementia. Participants will be recruited through two Midlands NHS hospital stroke and heart disease recovery services and local support groups. These hospitals will include Birmingham City hospital and University hospitals Leicester recovery services. A project lead in each hospital will provide us with contacts working in these services and groups. The project team will provide written project information to be e-mailed to potential recruits who meet the inclusion criteria. In addition, we will aim to include the carers of people with dementia who may have particular difficulty accessing healthcare. These will be recruited through local Age UK and Alzheimer’s support groups.

• REC name

  London - Brent Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  20/HRA/5908

• Date of REC Opinion

  10 Feb 2021

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion