Table 7 How COVID-19 influences preference

Impact of COVID-19 on preference

I’ve been into many hospitals, I’d never been to a hospital where it was so clean. I mean, the operation theatres, the wards - it was absolutely fantastic up there. You had complete confidence that you’re not going to get an infection, or you’re not going to come out with a problem. The nursing up there was fantastic [3BF08]

Ninety per cent of the hospitals have got automatic doors, so you don’t have to touch anything. You go in, there’s somebody waiting for you in the reception area, they take you to see the person you want, and when that person’s finished with you, that person takes you back and lets you out through the front door [3BF08]

If you said to me, can you come in? And I sit in the car, and you phone me and say, right, come in now, the door’s open, [unclear] walk straight into an office or wherever it is with you - I’m completely happy to do that. [3BF08]

You just go in the safest environment you can get there in, whether it means that you go and, obviously, you wear a mask and you – I mean, the hospitals, themselves, I don’t think are any more riskier than going into Sainsbury’s or Tesco, so I can’t see, you know, they’ve got as much PPE as they’ve – obviously your – the people dealing with you are protected, and the environment themselves are cleaned as much as, and you’ve just got to be aware of what your surroundings are, haven’t you, really [3BF09]

Once we have access to vaccinations, that’s it, back to normal. Everything. You’ll see the shopping centre, the hospitals packed, and people will forget about all these virtual appointments, I think. [3BV04]

I think the NHS has always been about caring for the population and for people and everything, and when you don’t have - when you’re not going there physically and you’re not having that physically, it feels a bit cold. It feels a bit cold and just routine and not - I just feel that’s being lost from the country. I think that aspect of it is being lost. Everyone’s relying too much on technology, and we’re losing that whole human interaction [3BF5]

Before COVID I was discussing with my physiotherapy and occupational therapist that if she could provide any phone assistance or just, I mean video calls, because that would be easier for me because I was in a lot of pain throughout - it’s been three years since my injury. So, going there, coming back here it’s a long journey and so that’s why I was - when you guys approached me, I said, this is a really good thing to have. If it happens, really good. [3BV04]

Everyone felt comfortable with it. But yeah Zoom is good. I know my wife has used it before - a long, long time before COVID. She was looking after some foreign buildings for a large corporate. There was obviously a lot of cost saving on jumping on airplanes backwards and forwards to different countries. Zoom costs £12 month. Flights cost a lot more. So yeah [3BF01]

But because of COVID we are trying that now. That whole technology was sitting there but nobody was using it so because of COVID now everything has changed, like shopping, everything. Not only that, I mean if you look into it the technology is coming into like more than ever. Everyone is trying to get their - people who didn’t have smart phones, they’re getting smart phones, people who didn’t have laptops are getting laptops. [3BV04]

Yeah. COVID has made us learn all new sorts of skills as well. We do a lot of client meetings through Zoom. [3BF01]

I think because of the situation now with COVID it’s a completely different scenario from how it was before. So I suppose what my views were then and what my views are now are a bit different because obviously we don’t have that facility now that we did have [3BF02]

In normal circumstances I would have driven in and I would have preferred to have driven in but because I haven’t been going out and feeling a bit nervous about going out, when you asked me, I thought no, I think I’d rather stay put. In another couple of weeks I’m sure I’ll be a lot more confident because I’m going to start going out a bit more [3BV02]

From where I live which is, I don’t suppose you know XX, but well, this part of XX which is XX, to get up to London I have to go on a train and at least one tube, if not two tubes depending on where I’m going. No, I’m not prepared to do that... I’m not going on tubes. [3BV02]

Look, unfortunately, we’re under very different circumstances at the moment. Yeah, it’s great to sit down with somebody across a table. … o this, this, and this, but on the phone what we’ve been doing is Zoom, sometimes your mind - you’re concentrating on something else, but it’s fine. I mean, I would like to sort of come up to Stanmore, sit down with you for the half an hour and run through everything, because you’ll have a [peg board] with you, but it’s not viable at the moment. [3BF08]

At the moment I wouldn’t go to a hospital unless it was absolutely dire [3BF02]

I would wait for COVID to finish because I’m not going to put myself in that position, or anybody else. Because you don’t know, it might not be you that becomes ill, but it might be someone else that you’ve effectively infected to make them very poorly [3BF02]

Well I have said my reasons for wanting to visit a hospital. With this issue it’s completely new to us and I think you’ve just got to move with how it is to be sensible, to protect the hospital and its staff and its patients [3BF02]

Yeah, and I think, as well, with the Coronavirus, I think a lot of things that people have had to go on to do virtually they would never have may be chosen to but have had no choice. They’ve done it and thought, well, you know [3BF09]