Survey launched on Covid-19 self-isolation

Lancaster City Council would like to hear the views of residents who were required to self-isolate over the past 18 months.

Whether people had to stay at home because they had Covid-19 or because they were a close contact to someone who had the virus, the council’s public protection team is keen to better understand the self-isolation experience of residents across the district.

A short, online survey has been set up: www.lancaster.gov.uk/self-isolation-survey.

Councillor Dave Brookes, cabinet member with responsibility for environmental health, said: "Learning about people's experiences is important to us. It helps us to design services that reach the people that need them and that make a real difference.

“We have sought feedback from residents throughout the pandemic, but now that the legal requirement to self-isolate has been removed, it seems like a good time to gather information on how it affected people.

“By taking a few minutes to fill in our online survey, it will enable us to learn and inform actions and activities to further support our residents should we be in a similar situation again."

The survey comes after the public protection team ran a young people’s self-isolation pilot project.

Youngsters aged 12-16 who were required to self-isolate were randomly selected to choose one of a number of activity packs to keep them occupied during their isolation period and a voucher for a selected activity for themselves and some friends at the end of their isolation.

The project, which was adopted by other councils across Lancashire, was well received by parents and young people across the district.

One parent said: “It’s a great scheme and a nice treat for them after being stuck in.”
Another wrote: “Thank you for all your support and the lovely surprise.”

Councillor Brookes added: “While Covid-19 has been challenging for everyone, self-isolation has been particularly difficult for young people who are used to high levels of social interaction, but we knew that every effort made would really help reduce the virus spread in our community.

“We held some feedback sessions with pupils at local high schools and young people told us that it would be good to have something to look forward to when they finish self-isolating, so we launched the pilot scheme to try to take the sting out of staying home.

“The feedback has been great and has helped us to further understand the lived experiences of young people, and we hope that this survey will enable us to find out more about the experiences of other people in the district to help shape health protection in the future.”

Last updated: 10 March 2022