Nottingham Insight

The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions introduced to curb it, have had an enormous impact on many aspects of life in this country. Whilst everyone in the UK has been affected by the pandemic, the effects were unevenly spread throughout society, with vulnerable and at risk groups being disproportionately impacted. COVID exacerbated the health inequalities already present within our communities and made them worse, so that people from deprived and vulnerable backgrounds were more likely to be infected, hospitalised with a severe illness and die from the virus.

Nottingham has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic with over a thousand deaths due to COVID-19. The relatively high levels of deprivation experienced by many communities within the city have led to health inequalities, which have catalysed the negative impacts of the virus in terms of mortality, morbidity, access to services, financial resilience and mental health.

Against this background, this chapter of the Nottingham City JSNA, focuses on the health impacts of the COVID pandemic from a variety of perspectives, taking health inequalities, wider determinants and population health into consideration. The initial drafts of this chapter were written in 2021, a further version based on refreshed data and content produced during the summer of 2022, and a final update undertaken in Spring 2023.

It is hoped that this document will contribute towards a greater understanding of the way that both the society and health and care systems within Nottingham City were impacted by COVID-19. Through this insight and the shared understanding that develops from it, the city may then work towards a meaningful, effective and sustainable recovery from the detrimental effects of the pandemic.

Key Findings

The structure of this report is based on the King’s Fund framework of four pillars of population health:

• Wider determinants of health
• Our health behaviours and lifestyles
• The places and communities we live in, and with
• (An Integrated Health and Care System) Public Health Services

A separate section devoted to “The Impact on Mental Health and Wellbeing” has also been included in this JSNA chapter, as we believe that this ongoing effect of the pandemic will continue to have short, medium- and longer-term consequences for our society.
This assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the lives and health of people of Nottingham City has highlighted the areas that have been most affected by the pandemic. To help aid our understanding we asked several questions, which form the framework for this chapter:

• What has been the impact of COVID-19?
• Has there been implementation of potential mitigating actions to reduce the impact of COVID-19?
• What learning can we take from this period for the future?

Learning for the Future

The connection between the four pillars of population health is important and underpins some key findings from this report:

• An integrated recovery will provide the most effective impact. The idea that recovery should be focussed on one sector would be short-sighted. Health and wellbeing have been impacted across all areas of society and a recovery process that is integrated is likely to have the greatest chance of success.
• The recovery should have the community at its heart. A personalised approach can be more successful in engaging certain population groups and areas of the city. Engaging in co-production by using local assets such as volunteers, social networks and charity, faith and community groups could play a vital role.
• The pandemic has increased the awareness of pre-existing inequalities and the disproportionate effect on some groups, including disabled people, ethnic minority communities, care home residents, people in forms of insecure work and people experiencing homelessness. This learning should be captured and applied to future policy; in particular, the need to focus on reducing health inequalities experienced by ethnic minority groups.
• The impact that COVID-19 has had on the mental health of the population should be acknowledged. In the short, medium and long-term, the pandemic may result in an increase in demand for not only mental health, but other services. In some areas the effects on mental health may result in negative engagement of services, directed towards certain health promotion and health protection services. Each public health service area should acknowledge this within future policy and where possible try to optimise engagement.

Public Health Knowledge & Intelligence Team

Loxley House

Station Street

Nottingham

NG2 3NG

Publichealth.analysts@nottinghamcity.gov.uk