University of Liverpool

Academic Institute

2002285

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted NHS care delivery. Amenable mortality is one measure of health systems performance, representing deaths that could have been avoided with timely treatment. This project will investigate healthcare disruption through examining how trends in amenable mortality changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will identify if the pandemic altered trends in amenable mortality, for which causes of death, and if trends varied by age, sex, region and deprivation. Research reports will benefit the public through supporting service delivery (e.g., which services had greatest disruption) and policy decision making (e.g., which services to invest in).

Provide an evidence base for public policy decision ¬making; The legacy of COVID-19 related healthcare disruption may affect population health in both the short¬ and long-term. It is likely to represent a key public policy area for both local and national governments over the next few years; as evidenced in the most recent budget where increased funds were allocated to help GPs and NHS services ‘catch-up’ on missed appointments and issues due to the disruption. If our project can identify areas for improvement now (though the proxy measure of amenable mortality), this will be key for mitigating any implications related to healthcare disruption. Through focusing on how amenable mortality trends have varied across different population and social groups, we will be able to identify any inequalities as well. Tackling social inequalities in health is a core government priority, and our analyses will offer novel insights that can inform these broader policy narratives (e.g., how to narrow inequalities through targeting parts of the health system we identify have been affected most). Provide an evidence base for how your project will support public service delivery. Amenable mortality has been previously used to assess health system performance and therefore is a valuable measure for informing delivery of health care within health systems (especially the NHS). We expect our results will be important for assessing both the overall nature of healthcare disruption and identifying specific areas for improvement. If changing trends specific causes of death are evident, then this will inform service delivery for those associated conditions. For example, if we find increasing amenable mortality related to cancers related to screening programmes, then we would advise increasing screening programmes, educational awareness and diagnosis procedures for these conditions to help catch¬up on COVID¬19 disruption.

01/08/2022

TRE