THE NHS will launch more than 40 ‘Long Covid’ specialist clinics at the end of November to help thousands of patients suffering debilitating effects of the virus months after being infected.
The clinics will bring together doctors, nurses, therapist and other NHS staff to physical and psychological assessments of those experiencing enduring symptoms.
The condition can cause continuing fatigue, brain fog’, breathlessness and pain and has affected around 60,000 people in the UK, according to NHS.
A study from King’s College London found that older people, women and those with a greater number of different symptoms in the first week of their illness were more likely to develop Long Covid with one in 10 still unable to shake off the side effects eight weeks after infection.
The Long Covid can be categorised into four different syndromes-post intensive care syndrome, post viral fatigue syndrome, permanent organ damage and long term Covid syndrome.
NHS England has provided £10 million fund for these new facilities.
Ten clinics will come up in the Midlands, seven in the North East, six in the East of England, South West and South East, five in London and three in the North West.
Patients will be able to access services through a GP referral or referral from other healthcare professional, allowing doctors an opportunity to rule out any other possible underlying causes for symptoms, such as suspected stroke, lung cancers or respiratory conditions.
Besides, the NHS has also launched a new taskforce, with patients, charities, researchers and clinicians, to help manage the NHS approach to ‘long covid’ and produce information and support materials for patients and healthcare professionals to develop a wider understanding of the condition.
“Long Covid is already having a very serious impact on many people’s lives and could well go on to affect hundreds of thousands. That is why the NHS is taking action to address those suffering ongoing health issues," said NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.
“These pioneering ‘Long Covid’ clinics will help address the very real problems being faced by patients today while the taskforce will help the NHS develop a greater understanding of the lasting effects of coronavirus.”
