COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group (C-SAG)

Updates to this webpage ceased on 31st July 2022

Whilst C-SAGs support to the response to COVID-19 continues in new and different ways, the formal C-SAG group was stood down in mid-2021. Updates to the site, including new research findings, have continued to be added until 31.07.22. The website will remain accessible as a point of reference to the work of C-SAG and associated research findings.

Please direct any further queries regarding the content of this site to chris.cartwright@bthft.nhs.uk in the first instance.

Bradford Institute for Health Research is harnessing its research expertise and infrastructure to support the local response to and recovery from COVID-19.  In partnership with the NHS and Local Authority we are leading a COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group (C-SAG), providing expert input and advice to the local response and of relevance at regional, national and international levels. There is a strong focus on inequalities throughout our research which is currently focussed in four key areas

  1. Providing insight to support the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations in the District.
  2. With support from our Born in Bradford (BiB) families we are investigating how COVID-19 is affecting the life of children and families.
  3. Through connected data we are providing additional insights on COVID-19 epidemiology and impacts of COVID-19 on wider healthcare services.
  4. Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 response on staff.

Our four focussed areas are underpinned by our internationally recognised Born in Bradford (BiB) and Connected Bradford research programmes.

  • Born in Bradford (BiB) is tracking in detail the lives of over 36,000 Bradfordians to find out what influences the health and wellbeing of families.
  • Connected Yorkshire provides linked primary, secondary and community health and social care data for almost 1 million people and education data for 200,000.
  • ActEarly UKPRP Consortium

COVID-19 vaccination insight

To inform the local rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations, Born in Bradford has been working with Born in Bradford families and local community representatives to understand attitudes and beliefs to COVID-19 vaccines.

Briefings, reports and webinars

Publications

Family and community impacts of COVID-19

Since the first English lockdown in March 2020 we have been working with our Born in Bradford (including Born in Bradford, Born in Bradford’s Better Start, BiB4All) families and the CARE75+ cohort to understand the impacts of the COVID-19 on various aspects of life including wellbeing, health, household finances and education. Our series of longitudinal surveys are developed in partnership with local decision makers and communities. We are also undertaking in-depth research the impacts of COVID-19 on child wellbeing and health beliefs and attitudes to COVID-19. Through ActEarly we are working with our UCL partners to understand how these impacts may be similar or differ for residents of Bradford District and Tower Hamlets.

Jackie’s Story: The personal resonance of a public health crisis

This is an audio story produced by Senior Research Fellow, Dr Bridget Lockyer. Based on an interview study conducted in 2020, it explores one woman’s experience of the Covid-19 pandemic. Jackie faced illness, bereavement, difficulties accessing health services and online misinformation during the first UK lockdown, which left her feeling abandoned, alone and confused. These experiences and feelings clouded her trust in the NHS and increased her uncertainty around taking a Covid-19 vaccine. Through her personal narrative, we can better understand how social context, experience and emotions shape people’s relationships with health and health services.

Briefings and reports

Webinars

Protocol

McEachan RRC, Dickerson J, Bridges S et al. The Born in Bradford COVID-19 Research Study: Protocol for an adaptive mixed methods research study to gather actionable intelligence on the impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities amongst families living in Bradford [version 1; peer review: 3 approved]. Wellcome Open Res 2020, 5:191 (https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16129.1)

Questionnaires

Family and child surveys

• BiB Family Questionnaire Round 2 October 2020
• BiBBS Family Questionnaire Round 2 October 2020
• BiB Child Questionnaire Round 2 October 2020
• BiBs Family Questionnaire Round 1 April 2020
• BiBs Child Questionnaire Round 1 May 2020
• BiBs Child Questionnaire – Parent Supplement Round 1 May 2020
• CARE75+ Older Peoples Questionnaire Round 1 May 2020

Pregnancy and postpartum surveys

• BiBs Postpartum Questionnaire December 2020
• BiBs Pregnancy Questionnaire December 2020
• BiBs Pregnancy Questionnaire June 2020

Publications

COVID-19 epidemiology and healthcare

Using connected data infrastructure we have been undertaking additional analysis since the beginning of the pandemic to understand COVID-19 infections and health inequalities.  Analysis has also been undertaken to understand changes in service use as a consequence of COVID-19.

Briefings and reports

Publications

Impact of COVID-19 response on staff

In response to the current COVID-19 crisis, the Yorkshire Quality and Safety Research Group are conducting a study to capture the real-time experience of staff across all levels and settings to better understand how a healthcare organisation manages during a public health crisis. This study represents the first of its kind in the world. Most importantly however, it will provide a rich case study that can be used within Bradford for future planning of such crises, and add greatly to our understanding of how to support health system resilience.

Twelve members of staff from across the organisation, who are at the centre of dealing with this crisis, have so far agreed to digitally record their brief spoken thoughts (up to 5 minutes) each day/session worked over a period of two months. They can tell us about anything but we have developed a proposed structure for recordings.

This study has been approved by the Health Regulations Authority, and locally through the BTHFT Research & Development Department (IRAS Ref: 281829 / Local Project Reference Number: BTHFT 2504). Please get in touch with us if you would like to be involved in this study (Jane.O’Hara@bthft.nhs.uk).

Understanding how a healthcare organisation responds to a public health crisis: the Bradford Covid-19 cohort study

Background to study

The growing spread of coronavirus globally represents a huge challenge for health services, and how organisations manage their staff and services at this time will be crucial. Much of what we know about how organisations cope at times of extreme challenge is gathered retrospectively, and very little is known about exactly how different levels within an organisation communicate and support each other to flex and adapt in the face of adversity.

This study will use an emergent theory called resilient healthcare, which views safety as the capacity of a system to adapt and respond to changing demands. In this approach, safety is characterised less by ‘learning from failure’, and more by ‘learning from success’, identifying how services support staff to provide safe care, even when under extreme duress.

This study aims to capture the real-time experience of staff across all levels and settings within Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. As a longitudinal, multi-level study of how a healthcare organisation manages during a public health crisis, it would represent the first of its kind in the world. Most importantly, however, it would provide a rich case study that can be used within Bradford for future planning of such crises, and likely afford a range of generalisable conclusions that would greatly add to our understanding of how to support multi-level health system resilience.

Brief methods

Approximately 10-15 staff members from across the organisation will be asked to digitally record their brief spoken thoughts (up to 5 minutes) at the end of each day or clinical shift, over a period of two months. The frequency of these recordings would be up to the individual staff member, with a minimum of twice per week (unless on leave) and a maximum of once per day across the study period. We will make available a dictaphone for these recordings, or staff can use their mobile phones. We would collect recordings on an ongoing basis throughout the study period, at the convenience of the staff. Staff will be allocated a pseudonym to use at the beginning of each of their recordings to identify themselves.

The framing for these recordings would be the four ‘cornerstones’ of resilient systems, namely:

i) responding: What have you been concerned about today? What have been the biggest challenges you have faced? How did you respond to them? What stopped you or supported you to respond?

ii) monitoring: What issues might you and the service face tomorrow and in the coming days? How will you know if you are doing better or worse on these issues?

iii) anticipating: What are you doing to plan for the problems you might face tomorrow and in the coming days? What is supporting or hindering you in your efforts to plan?

iv) learning: What have you learned, and how do you feel?

Once the study period is complete, these recordings will be transcribed and analysed, with a view to developing a multi-level case study that explores how Bradford flexed and adapted in the face of this public health crisis.

All transcribed recordings will be anonymised, and all data stored confidentially in line with data protection requirements. No individual will be identifiable in any future publications.

Acknowledgements

The work of the COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group is supported by:

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