COVID-19 UK: NHS Staff and PPE Sentiment

Base: 1507 UK app-based citizens

Male/Female: 30%/70%18-24/25-34/35-44/45-54/55+: 12%/41%/30%/12%/4%

Using the CitizenMe platform, we went out to our COVID-19 community, which is an open-data research project designed to enable the world's citizens to share real-time opinions and data about COVID-19 with the institutions fighting the Epidemic.


NHS staff

Within our survey, we have 6% (91 people) who work within the NHS. During this crisis, there is a great deal that is worrying these heroes. Here are some of the key things:

  • Those who work in the NHS as a whole actually have less disagreement compared to the general public as to whether there is enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) available for NHS workers (disagreement 64% vs 76% respectively).

  • HOWEVER, within this group of NHS workers, nurses are contrary to this overall figure of 64% as they are in 85% disagreement. Please note, nurse base is low at 34, but at 37% of this subset will skew the NHS results even further towards disagreement.

Interestingly, the same trend is found when nurses gave their opinion on whether the Government is doing enough to support NHS workers.


Types of people who agree/disagree with, "There is enough protective equipment available for NHS workers"

In our survey, we asked people their agreement to the statement, "There is enough protective equipment available for NHS workers". Here is what we found:

  • Males are less likely to disagree with this statement compared to females (67% vs 80%). Could this be attributable to some males perhaps having a more ‘macho’ approach to COVID-19?

  • Those who are within the 1.5M UK citizens who have been contacted by the NHS/local authorities are less likely to disagree with this statement compared to all citizens (67% vs 76%);  perhaps these individuals have had firsthand experience of being treated with PPE on display;

  • Those who are more neurotic have a greater disagreement with the statement compared to all citizens (83% vs 76%). Similarly, those who tend to worry more are feeling more anxious about this subject. This could have an effect on how they might interact with medical professionals;

  • Those who have higher emotional intelligence have a greater disagreement with the statement compared to all citizens (91% vs 76%). Those who can manage their feelings better, and know what they are feeling, are picking up on the issues around PPE.

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