Specialist centres to cater for ‘long covid’ sufferers

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has announced that those suffering ‘long covid’ symptoms will be offered specialist help at clinics across England.

Increasing medical evidence and patient testimony is showing that a small but significant minority of people who contract coronavirus cannot shake off the effects of the virus months after initially falling ill. Some estimates suggest that 10 per cent of patients may still be experiencing symptoms more than three weeks after infection, and perhaps 60,000 people could be suffering from long covid symptoms after more than three months.

Speaking at the NHS Providers conference, Stevens said that £10 million is be invested this year in additional local funding to help kick start and designate long covid clinics in every area across England, to complement existing primary, community and rehabilitation care.

As part of this, respiratory consultants, physiotherapists, other specialists and GPs will all help assess, diagnose and treat thousands of sufferers who have reported symptoms ranging from breathlessness, chronic fatigue, ‘brain fog’, anxiety and stress.

The new services will follow the launch of the long covid clinic at University College London Hospital earlier this summer where they have treated over 900 people with long Covid symptoms, including those who were not admitted to hospital with the illness.

Stevens said: “While this is still a relatively new virus, we are learning more about covid with every passing week. It is now clear that long covid can have a major impact on the lives of a significant minority of patients weeks or months after they have contracted the virus. So just as the NHS quickly put in place specialist hospital care for acutely ill Covid patients at the start of the pandemic, now we must respond sensitively and effectively to these new patient needs.”

NHS England has said that there will be new guidance by the end of October on the medical ‘case definition’ of long covid, and that the ‘Your Covid Recovery‘ – an online rehab service to provide personalised support to patients – will soon develop its second phase which will see people able to access a tailored rehabilitation plan.