Community level mapping of the impact of COVID-19 on non-COVID related service utilisation in Wales

Aim(s) and objective(s) of the research

Our overall aim is to answer the following question: How has COVID-19 impacted non-COVID-19 healthcare service use and provision in Wales and how does the vary at the local community level?

We aim to answer this question by using existing data available in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) databank. The data available includes the dates and types of attendance to general practice, hospital, and accident and emergency departments. Using this we are also able to investigate specific health conditions prioritised with the help of public engagement. These include diagnoses of common mental health disorders, attendances to general practice for cancer screening, and emergency admissions to hospital or A&E with a dental diagnosis or injury relating to domestic violence.

Background to the research, specifically what is the problem being addressed and why is this research important

COVID-19 has caused significant disruption to health and care services. Whilst services were prioritised for COVID-19 patients, there has been a decrease in the overall attendances to general practice, hospital and accident and emergency departments. It is unknown how this decrease in service use will impact the health and wellbeing of people over time.

Furthermore, we do not know if particular communities in Wales have been impacted more by the indirect effects of COVID-19 and why this may be.

What you hope to discover

We hope to discover which communities are at the highest risk of the indirect negative effects of COVID-19 such as accessing health and care services.

We also hope to discover the underlying individual, residential and area level characteristics that may impact the use of health and care services in Wales. These include things such as prior health conditions, access to gardens and parks, and levels of deprivation.

Public involvement

Our project was strengthened with public involvement. We were able to ask members of the public which health and care services they thought were the most important to investigate within our study. This directly influenced our priority areas. We will also continually involve members of the public in our study to ensure our research is timely and relevant.

Dissemination

A strength of our study is the ability to create maps of Wales with 'hot' spots that highlight areas in the most need. We will use this to our advantage to gain public interest in our project via social media platforms. We will also utilise our research teams networks and Swansea University’s existing knowledge transfer team to maximise the dissemination of our findings. The team will focus on providing our research to key decision makers within provider organisations, policymakers and others who can use it to improve health and social care services and policies.