NHS clinics will care for people with persistent effects of virus

“LONG Covid” centres are to be established by the NHS to care for people suff e r i ng l o ng- t e r m effects from coronavirus.

The hubs will offer support to people suffering symptoms such as breathlessness, chronic fatigue, “brain fog”, anxiety and stress, officials announced yesterday. Experts believe a “small but significant” proportion of patients cannot shake off some negative effects months after falling ill.

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, yesterday said the total could number hundreds of thousands.

The announcement follows the official recognition of long Covid by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the body that determines which treatments and drugs NHS patients are entitled to.

The face-to-face support announced yesterday will complement an online rehabilitation service. It will be staffed by respiratory consultants, physiotherapists and specialist GPS.

Sir Simon, announcing £10 million to start the programme, said: “While this is still a relatively new virus, we are learning more about Covid with every passing week.

‘Just as the NHS quickly put in place specialist hospital care, now we must respond to these new patient needs’

“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.”

The new services follow the opening of the long Covid clinic at University College London Hospital earlier this summer, which has treated more than 900 people with long-term symptoms, including those who were never admitted to hospital with the illness.

Patients at UCLH may also be given Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, a 40-minute test that requires patients to perform graded exercise on an upright bicycle while breathing into a mouthpiece to test lung strength.

Professor Marcel Levi, chief executive at UCLH, said: “There is a growing need to understand and offer access to care especially when, as a new illness, many struggle to access adequate care through traditional routes.”

The announcement came as Sir Simon told the NHS Providers conference that the health service would have to be “very agile” in its response to coronavirus and other demands this winter.