SAIL data helps reveal how the COVID-19 pandemic affected access to healthcare across Wales

New research using data from SAIL Databank has revealed insights into how the pandemic disrupted access to healthcare for people living with long-term health conditions across Wales. 

SAIL Databank, which is funded by Health and Care Research Wales, allows researchers secure, remote access to high-quality longitudinal data, offering exceptional potential to detect early signs of disease across a population.

The novel findings come from a new dataset called ‘SAIL long-term conditions e-cohort’ which tracked how people with chronic illnesses accessed healthcare before (2017-2019) and during the pandemic (2020-2022). 

Researchers at Swansea University created the dataset which used anonymised healthcare records from over 1.2 million Welsh residents with conditions like asthma and heart disease.

The study, published in the International Journal of Population Data Science, showed that visits to GPs and other primary care services fell sharply between 2020 and 2022.

This decline was most noticeable in Wales’ most deprived areas and in urban towns surrounded by sparsely populated countryside. In some areas, the number of visits dropped by nearly 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

These same areas, however, saw only a small decrease in secondary care visits, such as hospital admissions, suggesting that people may have bypassed local doctors and accessed secondary care directly. 

Meanwhile, rural towns and fringes in sparsely populated areas experienced the biggest fall in secondary care use.

Lead author Timothy Osborne, Research Officer and Data Scientist at Population Data Science, Swansea University, said: “Understanding where healthcare was disrupted most during the pandemic helps policymakers target resources more effectively to communities with the greatest need, and better prepare for future health crises. 

“The findings of this study suggest that ensuring equitable access to primary care services during disruptions should be a priority, particularly for deprived communities where the impact appears to have been greatest.”

The newly created dataset will continue to be used to further investigate the reasons for the variation in changes in healthcare service use across Wales, potentially informing more targeted interventions to ensure fairer healthcare.

Read the full article here.

To keep up to date with the latest health and care research news, subscribe to our weekly bulletin.