Perceptions of Risk of Attending Hospital During The COVID-19 Pandemic: A UK Public Opinion Survey (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Background: To inform clinical and research practice in secondary care in the COVID-19 pandemic, we consulted patients and the public on their feelings of safety, factors affecting feelings of safety, intention to participate in research, attitudes to research and comfort with new ways of working in order to inform secondary care policy on restarting research and some clinical activity. Method: An online survey was used to collect public opinions on attending hospitals. The survey link was circulated via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Public Involvement (PPI) Leads network and social media. Results: 402 people completed the survey. Participant age ranged from 18-85+, with the majority (337 [84%]) aged 35-74. There was a higher number of women (77%) compared to men (23%); and participants were mainly White European (91%) compared to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) (6%), or other (2%).Results for feelings of safety scales show bi-polarity, with few respondents in the middle ground. Implementation of COVID-19 related safety measures such as social distancing, use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning were strongly supported by most respondents. There was ambivalence around less certain measures such as staff antigen and antibody testing. Respondents were most likely to participate in research related to their own condition, COVID-19 and vaccine, but less likely to participate as healthy volunteers, especially female participants, and those suffering from a pre-existing comorbidity identified with increased risk. There was general agreement that participants are comfortable with new ways of working, such as remote consultation, though women and BAME respondents were less comfortable.Conclusions: Findings raise concerns for health inequalities already impacting some groups during the pandemic. The roles of clinical necessity and personal benefit support the reopening of services in line with clinical necessity. Moderate caution in respect of vaccine research relative to patient-participant research presents a challenge for pending recruitment demands. This area would benefit from qualitative research to explore themes and concerns in more depth and support development and targeting of key messaging.