RESUMO
BackgroundIn July 2022 it was estimated 2 million people in the UK have self-reported Long Covid (LC).1 Many people have reported not receiving adequate healthcare support. There is a lack of research which provides an in-depth exploration of the barriers faced by people with LC in accessing healthcare support. It is important to understand these barriers to provide better support, care and advice for those experiencing LC. ObjectiveTo understand the barriers faced in accessing primary, secondary and specialist healthcare support for people with LC. Design and participation40 interviews were conducted with people with LC alongside 12 interviews with healthcare professionals (HCPs) providing LC support in Bradford, as part of a UK wide qualitative longitudinal study. ResultsPeople living with LC had a large degree of difficulty in accessing healthcare services for LC support. We categorised the healthcare access experiences of participants into five main types: 1) being unable to access primary care 2) accessing primary care but receiving (perceived) inadequate support 3) extreme persistence 4) alternatives to mainstream healthcare 5) positive experiences. There was a severe lack of access to specialist LC services. Ethnic minority participants faced a further barrier of mistrust and fear of services deterring them from accessing support. HCPs discussed systemic barriers to delivering services. Experiences were embedded in macro structural issues further exacerbated by the pandemic. ConclusionTo better support people with LC the barriers faced in accessing healthcare support must be addressed. Of significance, improvements to GP access are required; especially as GPs are the first line of support for people living with LC. Patient and public involvementA PPI group is engaged at regular intervals in the project. O_TEXTBOXBox 1Patient and Public Contribution Designing an interview schedule for people with LC: The wider CONVALSCENCE research project has a PPI group involved in various work packages. The PPI group is hosted by researchers at University of West of England who have expertise in patient and public involvement. Members of the PPI group all have or had LC. After an extensive literature review4, a draft of the interview schedule was presented to the group via a workshop. It was then revised after incorporating their feedback and piloted by the research team for further refinement. Data interpretation workshop: Following advice of the UWE researchers, the PPI group were presented ahead of time with 4 interview transcripts from the dataset and provided their interpretation of the interviews via a workshop. The theme of barriers to accessing healthcare was also highlighted by attendees, for example they discussed patients being disbelieved (particularly young people) and fragmented services as some points of interest within the transcripts. C_TEXTBOX
