ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic saw a large proportion of the working population in the United Kingdom working from home for an extend period of time. In September 2021, a substantial number continued to work from home on a regular basis, a stark contrast to the situation pre-pandemic. Prior to 2020, although there was a growing trend for increased home working, this was still not a widespread practice across UK businesses, with the majority of staff working full-time from the employment location. The aim of this paper is to report the main changes in commuting and working patterns among commuters in Great Britain (GB) brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic with a special emphasis on the rail commuting market. The paper is informed by a panel survey of 3,892 GB respondents who commuted regularly to work prior to the pandemic in two waves. The first wave was conducted in Summer 2020 and focused on respondents' pre-pandemic travel patterns. The second wave was conducted in the Autumn 2021 and asked respondents about their current travel patterns. Although the focus was on rail travel, many of the conclusions of this paper are applicable to all modes of transport. Although a majority of pre-pandemic commuters have returned to commuting at least once per week to their place of work, there is a significant share of pre-pandemic commuters who are still working from home full-time. The return to the workplace has been slower among individuals who used to commute by rail compared to other modes. This is partially explained by current workplace arrangements being strongly linked with an individual's occupation and mode of transport. Individuals in office-based occupations are much more likely to work from home compared to those who work in other occupations. The pandemic has brought additional challenges to transport systems in addition to the reduced ridership level. Some of the emerging issues include managing post-pandemic peak travel volumes across a curtailed working week and the associated funding for peak capacity. Nonetheless, the research has highlighted some potential strategies to boost a faster recovery for travel demand.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There has been a large increase in treatment and in research on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from the common starting point of the original Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) study. There is currently little evidence on the degree of similarity and difference between national programmes or on the linkage between research and policy. AIMS: To review the evidence on programme development and the effectiveness gap from the UK, France, Germany, and Finland. METHODS: Visits and literature reviews were undertaken for regional centres in Lancashire, Nord-Pas de Calais, and Finland, and Eurostat data on mortality and hospital discharges were analysed, and telephone interviews in Nord-Rhein Westphalia. RESULTS: There have been very significant differences in programme development from the original GOLD starting point. The UK has national strategies but they are without consistent local delivery. The French Affection de Longue Durée (ALD) programme limits special help to at most 10% of patients and there is little use of spirometry in primary care. Germany has a more general Disease Management Programme with COPD as a late starter. Finland has had a successful 10-year programme. The results for the effectiveness gap on hospital discharges show a major difference between Finland (40.7% fall in discharges) and others (increases of 6.0-43.7%). CONCLUSIONS: The results show the need for a simpler programme in primary care to close the effectiveness gap. Such a programme is outlined based on preventing the downward spiral for high-risk patients.