COVID-19 as an Energy Intervention: Lockdown Insights for HCI

As the operation of buildings accounts for around 30% of global CO2 emissions, reducing their energy consumption is considered crucial for climate change mitigation. Aware of this significance, the sustainable HCI (SHCI) community has conducted research on energy consumption for over 15 years. However, compared with domestic environments, commercial organisations are comprised of complex mixed-use buildings, and the socio-technical understanding of space and resulting energy use are relatively under-explored. In this late-breaking work, we present the initial findings of a longitudinal analysis that uses building energy data from a period covering the COVID-19 lockdown measures to help identify the energy associated with these buildings and their users. Viewing the pandemic as a unique, grand-scale 'energy intervention', the resulting consumption patterns are used to inform questions about leverage points for achieving change, stakeholder agency vs. infrastructure demand;and highlight the importance of putting energy data in context. © 2023 Owner/Author.

169 Improving the care of lung cancer patients of borderline fitness for surgery: a case study by the Accelerate, Coordinate and Evaluate Programme (ACE) programme

Background: There is wide variation in resection and other radical treatment rates for lung cancer patients in the UK. Many patients pose complex problems around staging and assessment of fitness for radical treatment, one such group being those patients deemed ‘borderline fit' for surgery. Cancer Research UK's ACE Programme is exploring how fitness is assessed in such patients across the UK, the extent to which prehabilitation is available and used and how other radical treatment options, especially Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT), are considered. Methodology: In collaboration with the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons, a questionnaire was sent to trusts in November 2020 that specialise in thoracic surgery, focusing on: their access to, and management of, a prehabilitation programme;methods used to assess fitness for surgery;access to a clinical oncologist with expertise in SBRT Results: To date, a total of 20/32 units responded. Findings include: 15/20 offer a prehabilitation programme mostly available within 2 weeks. The programmes typically last 1-2 weeks. 10 respondents are running virtual sessions due to COVID-19;standard pulmonary function tests are available to all units and 17/20 units have access to cardiopulmonary exercise testing and echocardiogram;complex case MDTs are run by 14/20 units, 13 including attendance from anaesthetists;an oncologist with SBRT expertise is available to all MDTs;a 2nd opinion is obtained in 17/20 units, of these 9/17 were following patient request Conclusion: It is encouraging to see wider application of prehabilitation programmes for borderline fitness patients in the UK. Such enhanced management of these patients could reduce variation in treatment rates and improve outcomes. The ACE Programme plans to use this preliminary work to develop examples of best practice and support implementation to achieve these aims. Disclosure: No significant relationships.

A watershed moment for social policy and human rights?: Where next for the UK post-COVID

With the ideological shift to neoliberalism and the introduction of austerity measures following the Global Recession, the UK has experienced divestment in the National Health Service, growing food bank use, increasing housing problems and growing inequities in access to digital services. These inequities have been both highlighted and compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Questioning the ideology that economic growth should be prioritised above all else, this book demonstrates that an alternative approach to social policy, based on human rights and social justice, is necessary to tackle the existing systemic inequalities brought to the foreground by COVID-19. © Bristol University Press 2021. All rights reserved.