Local team to help tackle long Covid
A LONG Covid clinic is being set up in Geelong to help patients suffering lingering symptoms from the virus.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Victoria deputy chair Bernard Shiu, who is leading the initiative, said it would be the first community-based long Covid clinic in Victoria.
The service would operate from his Banksia Medical Centre in Newcomb initially, and was likely to expand to a larger site, depending on demand, Dr Shiu said.
“We decided we can’t wait any more, every week we have patients coming in 12 weeks after diagnosis,” he said.
“Lingering symptoms need to be managed and assessed.”
Long Covid occurs when people still have symptoms three months after being infected.
It is estimated 10-30 per cent of people who contract Covid may develop long-term symptoms, but research is still under way.
That means thousands of residents in the region could suffer ongoing issues.
Long Covid symptoms can include difficulty breathing, coughing and fatigue, and Dr
Shiu said these ranged in severity.
The Geelong long Covid clinic’s team will include Dr Shiu, fellow Banksia Medical Centre GPs Victor Wong and Jenny Huang, cardiologist Calvin Phang, respiratory physician James Lindstrom, exercise physiologist Nicole Smith and psychiatrist Jossy Antony.
Dr Shiu, a founding member of the Victoria post-acute Covid study group, said the Geelong team would work with patients and their usual GPs and other health workers for treatment plans or to connect patients with the right services.
It was hoped the long Covid clinic would be up and running next month, he said.
The clinic has not received extra government funding, but Dr Shiu said he and other doctors would be advocating for government funding for long Covid.
He said the team wanted to see long Covid patients early on so they could intervene to try to ease their suffering.
The team will look to implement more advanced treatments as international and local experts learn more about long Covid.