Struggle for long Covid sufferers
A CHARITY has seen a doubling in the number of people seeking help for long Covid as it warned NHS services are failing to meet demand.
Asthma and Lung UK said around half a million people have visited its long Covid advice web pages or called its helpline for support in the past six months.
The number of people viewing the web pages nearly doubled from September to March, as cases of Omicron rose across the UK, it said.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that an estimated 1.8 million people in UK households (2.8% of the population) were experiencing long Covid as of April 3 – the most recent data available.
In these self-reported cases, 382,000 (21%) first had (or suspected they had) Covid less than 12 weeks previously, 1.3 million people (73%) at least 12 weeks previously, 791,000 (44%) at least one year previously and 235,000 (13%) at least two years before.
Fatigue is the most common symptom reported (51% of those with long Covid), followed by shortness of breath (33%), loss of sense of smell (26%) and difficulty concentrating (23%).
Some 1.2 million people (67% of those with long Covid) say symptoms stop them doing some or all of their normal activities.
According to Asthma and Lung UK, many callers to its helpline are at crisis point, with some asking for advice on buying oxygen to manage their long Covid breathlessness. This can be dangerous if it is not issued on prescription.
The helpline has also taken calls from people wanting information on private healthcare providers because they are struggling to get help from the NHS.
The latest data from NHS long Covid clinics in England shows 30% of people waited more than 15 weeks for an initial appointment as of March/ April.
Data on the overall number of people still waiting for first appointments is not published by the NHS.
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma and Lung UK, said: “As we near the grim milestone of two million people living with long Covid, there is still a dismal lack of treatments for this disabling condition, which is leaving people fighting for breath and devastating every aspect of their life, health, work and relationships.”