The Research and Development Survey (RANDS) is a platform designed for conducting survey question evaluation and statistical research. RANDS is an ongoing series of surveys from probability-sampled commercial survey panels used for methodological research at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). RANDS estimates are generated using an experimental approach that differs from the survey design approaches generally used by NCHS, including possible biases from different response patterns and sampling frames as well as increased variability from lower sample sizes. Use of the RANDS platform allows NCHS to produce more timely data than would be possible using traditional data collection methods. RANDS is not designed to replace NCHS’ higher quality, core data collections. Below are experimental estimates of reduced access to healthcare for three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19. Data collection for the three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19 occurred between June 9, 2020 and July 6, 2020, August 3, 2020 and August 20, 2020, and May 17, 2021 and June 30, 2021. Information needed to interpret these estimates can be found in the Technical Notes. RANDS during COVID-19 included questions about unmet care in the last 2 months during the coronavirus pandemic. Unmet needs for health care are often the result of cost-related barriers. The National Health Interview Survey, conducted by NCHS, is the source for high-quality data to monitor cost-related health care access problems in the United States. For example, in 2018, 7.3% of persons of all ages reported delaying medical care due to cost and 4.8% reported needing medical care but not getting it due to cost in the past year. However, cost is not the only reason someone might delay or not receive needed medical care. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, people also may not get needed medical care due to cancelled appointments, cutbacks in transportation options, fear of going to the emergency room, or an altruistic desire to not be a burden on the health care system, among other reasons. The Household Pulse Survey (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/reduced-access-to-care.htm), an online survey conducted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by the Census Bureau in partnership with other federal agencies including NCHS, also reports estimates of reduced access to care during the pandemic (beginning in Phase 1, which started on April 23, 2020). The Household Pulse Survey reports the percentage of adults who delayed medical care in the last 4 weeks or who needed medical care at any time in the last 4 weeks for something other than coronavirus but did not get it because of the pandemic. The experimental estimates on this page are derived from RANDS during COVID-19 and show the percentage of U.S. adults who were unable to receive medical care (including urgent care, surgery, screening tests, ongoing treatment, regular checkups, prescriptions, dental care, vision care, and hearing care) in the last 2 months. Technical Notes: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/rands/reduced-access-to-care.htm#limitations

Following a trial run and official release on the 24th of September 2020, the NHS COVID-19 app has been downloaded more than 29 million times in England and Wales, as of December 2021. Developed to complement the NHS Test & Trace in England and the Test, Trace and Protect program in Wales, the app is aimed at increasing the speed and accuracy of contact tracing, and includes features such as local area alerts and venue check-in.

NHS COVID-19 app usage Between the beginning of June 2021 and the end of July 2021, the number of COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom started rising again, reaching the peak of 54,674 on the 21st of July. In the previous week, it was reported that more than 600 thousand users of the NHS COVID-19 app in England and Wales had received a self-isolation alert or “ping,” causing what has been since renamed by the media as a “pingdemic.” The NHS COVID-19 app, which works using Bluetooth technology, registers the devices that the users have been in proximity of, and is programmed to send alerts to all the traced contacts in case the app users test positive for coronavirus. While the app’s tracing measurements are currently being reviewed to decrease the number of alerts sent, two in 10 users have reported switching off the app’s contact tracing function. Moreover, according to a survey of online users in Great Britain, only 22 percent of the online users who have the app are using it correctly, while one in ten reported deleting the app altogether.

Travel health pass and COVID-19 apps In 2021, the rolling out of vaccination plans worldwide prompted health institutions and travel companies to start releasing new apps or updating their current ones to function as health passports. With close to 5,7 million downloads in the first half of 2021, the NHS app was the most downloaded app used to show digital certifications. The CovPass app, which is available to residents in Germany, followed with more than 5.56 million downloads as of the second quarter of 2021. According to a February survey of travelers worldwide, the main concerns over the use of digital health passports related to security risks over personal data being hacked and privacy protection.

The Research and Development Survey (RANDS) is a platform designed for conducting survey question evaluation and statistical research. RANDS is an ongoing series of surveys from probability-sampled commercial survey panels used for methodological research at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). RANDS estimates are generated using an experimental approach that differs from the survey design approaches generally used by NCHS, including possible biases from different response patterns and sampling frames as well as increased variability from lower sample sizes. Use of the RANDS platform allows NCHS to produce more timely data than would be possible using traditional data collection methods. RANDS is not designed to replace NCHS’ higher quality, core data collections. Below are experimental estimates of loss of work due to illness with coronavirus for three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19. Data collection for the three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19 occurred between June 9, 2020 and July 6, 2020, August 3, 2020 and August 20, 2020, and May 17, 2021 and June 30, 2021. Information needed to interpret these estimates can be found in the Technical Notes. RANDS during COVID-19 included a question about the inability to work due to being sick or having a family member sick with COVID-19. The National Health Interview Survey, conducted by NCHS, is the source for high-quality data to monitor work-loss days and work limitations in the United States. For example, in 2018, 42.7% of adults aged 18 and over missed at least 1 day of work in the previous year due to illness or injury and 9.3% of adults aged 18 to 69 were limited in their ability to work or unable to work due to physical, mental, or emotional problems. The experimental estimates on this page are derived from RANDS during COVID-19 and show the percentage of U.S. adults who did not work for pay at a job or business, at any point, in the previous week because either they or someone in their family was sick with COVID-19. Technical Notes: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/rands/work.htm#limitations

Cumulative uptake data on seasonal influenza vaccinations administered to and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among frontline Health Care Workers (HCWs) from NHS Trusts, GP Practices and Independent Health Care Providers.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Opinions Survey (VOS) is a follow up to the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) (held at the UK Data Archive under SN 8635), and questions those specifically who reported hesitancy towards the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. The survey has been commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to identify changes in attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine, and the factors and interventions that may have influenced initially hesitant people's decision to get a vaccine.

Survey content for this study has been developed in consultation with DHSC, Cabinet Office and National Health Service (NHS) England. The survey was carried out using an online survey by the Office for National Statistics. The sample was based on 4,272 adults in England who took part in the OPN (over the period 13 January to 8 August 2021), specifically those who indicated hesitancy or uncertainty towards getting or who had refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine. These respondents had previously provided consent to be re-contacted for future research. The responding sample contained 2,482 individuals, representing a 58 per cent response rate. This is a one-off survey and currently there are no plans to carry out a second wave.

This is the first in a series of follow up reports to the Mental Health and Young People Survey (MHCYP) 2017, exploring the mental health of children and young people in July 2020, during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and changes since 2017. Experiences of family life, education and services, and worries and anxieties during the COVID-19 pandemic are also examined. The sample for the Mental Health Survey for Children and Young People, 2020 (MHCYP 2020), wave 1 follow up was based on 3,570 children and young people who took part in the MHCYP 2017 survey, with both surveys also drawing on information collected from parents. Cross-sectional analyses are presented, addressing two primary aims: Aim 1: Comparing mental health between 2017 and 2020 – the likelihood of a mental disorder has been assessed against completion of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in both years in Topic 1 by various demographics. Aim 2: Describing life during the COVID-19 pandemic - the report examines the circumstances and experiences of children and young people in July 2020 and the preceding months, covering: Family dynamics (Topic 2) Parent and child anxieties about COVID-19, and well-being (Topic 3) Access to education and health services (Topic 4) Changes in circumstances and activities (Topic 5) The data is broken down by gender and age bands of 5 to 10 year olds and 11 to 16 year olds for all categories, and 17 to 22 years old for certain categories, as well as by whether a child is unlikely to have a mental health disorder, possibly has a mental health disorder and probably has a mental health disorder. This study was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, commissioned by NHS Digital, and carried out by the Office for National Statistics, the National Centre for Social Research, University of Cambridge and University of Exeter. Note: On 21 December 2020 the pdf was amended to ensure that Figure 5.6 was displaying the correct figures from the underlying data table.

According to a July 2021 survey of NHS COVID-19 app users in Great Britain, ** percent of all respondents currently have their Bluetooth or contact tracing turned on and always leave it on. While eight in *** respondents aged 65 and above reported having the contact tracing function on their NHS apps always on, younger users reported being more likely to have this function turned off. In the youngest measured age group, about ** percent of app users had turned the contact tracing function off.

The Research and Development Survey (RANDS) is a platform designed for conducting survey question evaluation and statistical research. RANDS is an ongoing series of surveys from probability-sampled commercial survey panels used for methodological research at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). RANDS estimates were generated using an experimental approach that differs from the survey design approaches generally used by NCHS, including possible biases from different response patterns and increased variability from lower sample sizes. Use of the RANDS platform allowed NCHS to produce more timely data than would have been possible using our traditional data collection methods. RANDS is not designed to replace NCHS’ higher quality, core data collections. Below we provide experimental estimates of telemedicine access and use for two rounds of RANDS during COVID-19. Data collection for the first round occurred between June 9, 2020 and July 6, 2020 and data collection for the second round occurred between August 3, 2020 and August 20, 2020. Information needed to interpret these estimates can be found in the Technical Notes.

NCHS included questions about whether providers offered telemedicine (including video and telephone appointments)—both during and before the pandemic—and about the use of telemedicine during the pandemic. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many local and state governments discouraged people from leaving their homes for nonessential reasons. Although health care is considered an essential activity, telemedicine offers an opportunity for care without the potential or perceived risks of leaving the home. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted by NCHS, added telemedicine questions to its sample adult questionnaire in July 2020. Currently RANDS is the only NCHS source for statistics related to telemedicine availability and use.

The experimental estimates on this page are derived from RANDS and show the percentage of U.S. adults who have a usual place of care and a provider that offered telemedicine in the past two months, who used telemedicine in the past two months, or who have a usual place of care and a provider that offered telemedicine prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

Data on clinically extremely vulnerable people in England during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Shielding Behavioural Survey. Includes information on their behaviours and well-being since receiving shielding guidance.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global public health crisis that continues to exert immense pressure on healthcare and related professional staff and services. The impact on staff wellbeing is likely to be influenced by a combination of modifiable and non-modifiable factors.ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the self-reported wellbeing, resilience, and job satisfaction of National Health Service (NHS) and university staff working in the field of healthcare and medical research.MethodsWe conducted a cross sectional survey of NHS and UK university staff throughout the COVID-19 pandemic between May-November 2020. The anonymous and voluntary survey was disseminated through social media platforms, and via e-mail to members of professional and medical bodies. The data was analyzed using descriptive and regression (R) statistics.ResultsThe enjoyment of work and satisfaction outside of work was significantly negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic for all of staff groups independent of other variables. Furthermore, married women reporting significantly lower wellbeing than married men (P = 0.028). Additionally, the wellbeing of single females was significantly lower than both married women and men (P = 0.017 and P < 0.0001, respectively). Gender differences were also found in satisfaction outside of work, with women reporting higher satisfaction than men before the COVID-19 pandemic (P = 0.0002).ConclusionOur study confirms that the enjoyment of work and general satisfaction of staff members has been significantly affected by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, being married appears to be a protective factor for wellbeing and resilience but the effect may be reversed for life satisfaction outside work. Our survey highlights the critical need for further research to examine gender differences using a wider range of methods.

According to a July survey of online users in Great Britain, 40 percent of the respondents reported not having ever installed the NHS COVID-19 app at all. Of those who were using the app, 22 percent reported using it correctly. In the case of online users aged 65 and above, roughly three in 10 reported using the app correctly. By comparison, 17 percent of online users aged between 18 and 24 years old reported deleting the app.

According to a survey of British internet users conducted at the end of July 2021, 40 percent of respondents reported that if someone they knew chose to delete their NHS COVID-19 app, they would develop a worse opinion of that person. However, only 30 percent of respondents aged between 18 and 24 years had the same opinion, with 46 percent of users in this age group stating their opinion would not change when confronted by this type of situation. Respondents reporting they would develop a better opinion of users deleting their NHS COVID-19 app were only five percent.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global public health crisis that continues to exert immense pressure on healthcare and related professional staff and services. The impact on staff wellbeing is likely to be influenced by a combination of modifiable and non-modifiable factors.ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the self-reported wellbeing, resilience, and job satisfaction of National Health Service (NHS) and university staff working in the field of healthcare and medical research.MethodsWe conducted a cross sectional survey of NHS and UK university staff throughout the COVID-19 pandemic between May-November 2020. The anonymous and voluntary survey was disseminated through social media platforms, and via e-mail to members of professional and medical bodies. The data was analyzed using descriptive and regression (R) statistics.ResultsThe enjoyment of work and satisfaction outside of work was significantly negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic for all of staff groups independent of other variables. Furthermore, married women reporting significantly lower wellbeing than married men (P = 0.028). Additionally, the wellbeing of single females was significantly lower than both married women and men (P = 0.017 and P < 0.0001, respectively). Gender differences were also found in satisfaction outside of work, with women reporting higher satisfaction than men before the COVID-19 pandemic (P = 0.0002).ConclusionOur study confirms that the enjoyment of work and general satisfaction of staff members has been significantly affected by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, being married appears to be a protective factor for wellbeing and resilience but the effect may be reversed for life satisfaction outside work. Our survey highlights the critical need for further research to examine gender differences using a wider range of methods.

The Health Survey for England (HSE) is a series of surveys designed to monitor trends in the nation's health. It was commissioned by NHS Digital and carried out by the Joint Health Surveys Unit of the National Centre for Social Research and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London.The aims of the HSE series are:to provide annual data about the nation's health;to estimate the proportion of people in England with specified health conditions;to estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these conditions;to examine differences between population subgroups in their likelihood of having specific conditions or risk factors;to assess the frequency with which particular combinations of risk factors are found, and which groups these combinations most commonly occur;to monitor progress towards selected health targetssince 1995, to measure the height of children at different ages, replacing the National Study of Health and Growth;since 1995, monitor the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children.The survey includes a number of core questions every year but also focuses on different health issues at each wave. Topics are revisited at appropriate intervals in order to monitor change.Further information about the series may be found on the NHS Digital Health Survey for England; health, social care and lifestyles webpage, the NatCen Social Research NatCen Health Survey for England webpage and the University College London Health and Social Surveys Research Group UCL Health Survey for England webpage.Changes to the HSE from 2015:Users should note that from 2015 survey onwards, only the individual data file is available under standard End User Licence (EUL). The household data file is now only included in the Special Licence (SL) version, released from 2015 onwards. In addition, the SL individual file contains all the variables included in the HSE EUL dataset, plus others, including variables removed from the EUL version after the NHS Digital disclosure review. The SL version of the dataset contains variables with a higher disclosure risk or are more sensitive than those included in the EUL version and is subject to more restrictive access conditions (see Access information). Users are advised to obtain the EUL version to see if it meets their needs before considering an application for the SL version.COVID-19 and the HSE:Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the HSE 2020 survey was stopped in March 2020 and never re-started. There was no publication that year. The survey resumed in 2021, albeit with an amended methodology. The full HSE resumed in 2022, with an extended fieldwork period. Due to this, the decision was taken not to progress with the 2023 survey, to maximise the 2022 survey response and enable more robust reporting of data. See the NHS Digital Health Survey for England - Health, social care and lifestyles webpage for more details.

The EUL version of the HSE 2019 is held under SN 8860. Core topics:General healthLongstanding illnessSmokingAverage weekly alcohol consumptionDrinking (heaviest day in last week)Consent to data linkage (NHS central register, HES)Socio-economic information: sex, age, income, education, employment etcPrescribed medications (nurse)Additional topics:Social care receipt and provisionProvision of unpaid careDental healthUse of GP and counselling servicesEating disordersMeasurements:Height and weightBlood pressure (nurse)Waist and hip circumference (nurse)Blood sample for cholesterol, glycated haemoglobin (nurse)Saliva sample (nurse)

A survey carried out in the United Kingdom in September 2021 showed that the most trusted source of news about the COVID-19 pandemic was the NHS, with ** percent of those aged 16 years or older saying that they trusted information directly from the National Health Service. By contrast, just ** percent said the same about Facebook.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The Italian national health care faced a huge challenge as the country was the first in Europe to be severely hit by COVID-19. According to survey conducted in June 2020, ** percent of Italian respondents believed that the system stood up to the challenge, whereas ** percent of respondents believed the opposite. There seemed to be a wide acknowledgment of the need for more resources in public health. Indeed, ** percent of respondents shared the need for more personnel and only ***** percent of respondents reported that the national system did not need any additional funding. Furthermore, ** percent of respondents declared that higher salaries should be granted to medical staff. While the medical staff was put under the spotlight of national media, calls for modernization and strengthening of hospitals were also heard.

Give telemedicine a chance

During the COVID-19 emergency in Italy, many patients in need of care and consulting could not access health services the way they used to in the past. For this reason, the interest in telemedicine to treat patients increased among physicians and General Practitioners (GPs). According to a survey conducted in June 2020, the share of physicians interested in carrying out tele-examinations in the future reached ** percent. General Practitioners (GPs) shared the same interest in the use of telemedicine. According to the same survey, the share of GPs interested in carrying out tele-examinations in the future reached ** percent.

COVID-19 effect on telemedicine

The coronavirus emergency appears to have helped change the attitude towards telemedicine. In general, the restrictions and lockdown implemented exposed the increasing need to use digital tools to communicate with patients, both for GPs and medical specialists. Surveys also showed that for some medical examinations and/or consultations an in-person appointment is not always necessary. This opinion was also shared by both GPs and medical specialists.