Research Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic and the efforts to contain the virus have significantly disrupted the delivery of mental health services and worsened the mental health of the population. Widespread decreases in people accessing support were observed during the first UK lockdown, but limited evidence exists on how the pandemic has and continues to impact on access to services for underserved population groups. For my PhD research, I am working in partnership with Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust to improve our understanding of inequalities in access to mental health services during the pandemic through the analysis of routinely collected mental health service data. I am particularly interested in exploring if lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) population groups, noted as traditionally underserved in the past, have had more or less access to services than expected. My research will involve data analysis methods to look at changes in service activity over time, map patient journeys, and explore the influence of patient characteristics and the pandemic.