Long Covid: Health Services
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that patients with long covid receive condition specific care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
Long COVID, or post-COVID, services are commissioned by integrated care boards. These services should comprise of an integrated pathway of assessment, medical treatment, and multifaceted rehabilitation, with direct access to required diagnostics. Referral should be via a single point of access which is managed by clinician-led triage. At all stages in the care pathway, patients should be offered a range of support, treatment, and rehabilitation services, depending on the specific needs of the individual.
NHS England has set up specialist post-COVID services nationwide for adults, and children and young people, and is investing in ensuring general practice teams are equipped to support people affected by the condition. The Living with Covid Recovery mobile phone app also supports people recovering from long COVID at home. The app has enabled the National Health Service to monitor and support the recovery of those suffering from long COVID more effectively.
While there is no single treatment for long COVID, there are treatments available to help manage some of the symptoms. Specifically, the Government has funded clinical trials to test and compare different treatments such as antihistamines, anticoagulants, and anti-inflammatory medicines, as well as trials such as REGAIN.
The Neighbourhood Health Service, delivered by new multidisciplinary teams of professionals, will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can, to support more services being delivered in the community, including for people with long COVID.
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