During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, a substantial part of care activities was postponed or even stopped. What should we do to prevent these problems in the future? This question is central to a large European project called RAPIDE. RAPIDE is the project acronym for Regular and Unplanned Care Adaptive Dashboard for Cross-Border Emergencies. In this project, researchers from seven countries, led by Aura Timen of Radboudumc, will develop and test scenarios and care models to organise regular care more flexibly and resiliently during a health crisis, such as COVID-19 pandemic.
Communication plays a crucial role during a pandemic. Good communication guarantees that vulnerable groups will have continued access to regular care, even if care needs to be reconfigured or relocated. In this PhD project, which is part of the RAPIDE project, we investigate how we can best communicate with vulnerable groups about access to care during a health crisis.