How this fits in

In order to understand people’s help-seeking behaviours during COVID-19 and inequalities in accessing care, semi-structured interviews were carried out with people who contacted primary care with possible symptoms of colorectal cancer. The Candidacy Framework was used to understand how people decided to seek medical help, how they navigated services, their ease of accessing services, and their perception of the interaction with healthcare professionals. Disparities between higher and lower socioeconomic status participants were found in how people appraised their symptoms during the pandemic, and how they perceived changes in primary care in terms of considerations around the need to visit the GP during the pandemic, understanding how to access primary care, views about remote technology, safety netting during COVID-19, and attitudes towards accessing care. Recommendations are made for minimising negative impacts on patient care during and post-pandemic.