BMJ Open is part of British Medical Journals, dedicated to publishing medical research from all disciplines and therapeutic areas.
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This study, lead by Dr Stuart Flint, explored the impact of COVID-19 on people identified as at high risk of severe illness by UK government, and in particular, the impact of lock-down on access to healthcare, medications and use of technological platforms.
Due to the unprecedented and rapidly changing impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s vital that we understand and appropriately support people who have and continue to manage physical and mental health conditions. Responses to the outbreak have led to varied actions across the world to reduce infection and spread.
For subgroups of the population who have been identified as ‘vulnerable’ due to an increased risk of severe illness, there has been varied measures and communication developed to support and prevent infection. This has led to changes in the way that people need to live and is likely to have a different and quite varied impact on people identified as ‘vulnerable’, compared to those who have not been identified as at ‘higher risk’.
As part of an ongoing project in association with the University of Leeds, University College London (UCL), University of Birmingham and the US Military, Dr Stuart Flint (President of Scaled Insights and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Leeds) carried out a longitudinal study into the impact of COVID-19 on those identified as at high risk by Government. In this large-scale data sampling activity, the researchers are assessing the awareness, attitudes and actions of UK adults identified as being at risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
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