Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the level of functional impairment endured by patients suffering from long Covid.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that long COVID is a complex condition, with a wide range of symptoms, which, in the worst case, can be substantially incapacitating. The term ‘long COVID’ is an umbrella term, coined by patients and widely used to describe a wide range of symptoms or clusters of symptoms, of differing duration and severity, and potentially a number of distinct syndromes. The clinical case definition produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence identifies three phases of post-COVID-19 infection, the latter two of which are commonly described as long COVID, which are as follows:
The most common symptoms of long COVID are extreme tiredness or fatigue, feeling short of breath, problems with your memory and concentration, sometimes referred to as brain fog, heart palpitations, dizziness, joint pain, and muscle aches.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they are monitoring the prevalence of long Covid in England; what is their estimate of number of people in England currently suffering from long Covid; what is their analysis of how long those people have had long Covid; and at what rate is the prevalence of long Covid increasing or decreasing.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The most recent data from the Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study, a joint study carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency, shows that, for the period 6 February 2024 to 7 March 2024, an estimated 1.8 million people, or 3.3% of the population, in private households in England, self-reported experiencing long COVID symptoms more than four weeks after a COVID-19 infection. The following table shows a breakdown of duration:
Duration | Estimate |
4 to 11 weeks | 148,971 |
12 to 25 weeks | 105,946 |
26 to 38 weeks | 28,107 |
39 to 51 weeks | 57,164 |
52 to 77 weeks | 105,962 |
78 to 103 weeks | 116,876 |
104 to 155 weeks | 253,770 |
156 weeks and over | 365,922 |
No estimate has been made of the rate at which prevalence of long COVID is currently increasing or decreasing in England. The ONS does not regularly collect this data.
No estimate has been made of the effect of long COVID on the economy in each year from 2020 to 2024, including the effect with respect to those affected by long COVID of their economic inactivity, the diminution in their quality of life, their lost income, the cost of informal caregiving for them, and their extra healthcare costs.
The most recent data from the infection study shows that for those who self-report long COVID of any duration, in England and Scotland, who are aged between 16 and 64 years old and are not in education are less likely to be employed or self-employed compared with those who have not reported long COVID.
On 18 December 2020, NHS England had put in place 69 dedicated clinics across the country. As of 1 April 2024, there were over 90 adult post-COVID services across England along with an additional 10 children and young people’s hubs.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the effect of long Covid on the economy in each year from 2020 to 2024, including the effect with respect to those affected by long Covid of (1) their economic inactivity, (2) the diminution in their quality of life, (3) their lost income, (4) the cost of informal caregiving for them, and (5) their extra healthcare costs.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The most recent data from the Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study, a joint study carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency, shows that, for the period 6 February 2024 to 7 March 2024, an estimated 1.8 million people, or 3.3% of the population, in private households in England, self-reported experiencing long COVID symptoms more than four weeks after a COVID-19 infection. The following table shows a breakdown of duration:
Duration | Estimate |
4 to 11 weeks | 148,971 |
12 to 25 weeks | 105,946 |
26 to 38 weeks | 28,107 |
39 to 51 weeks | 57,164 |
52 to 77 weeks | 105,962 |
78 to 103 weeks | 116,876 |
104 to 155 weeks | 253,770 |
156 weeks and over | 365,922 |
No estimate has been made of the rate at which prevalence of long COVID is currently increasing or decreasing in England. The ONS does not regularly collect this data.
No estimate has been made of the effect of long COVID on the economy in each year from 2020 to 2024, including the effect with respect to those affected by long COVID of their economic inactivity, the diminution in their quality of life, their lost income, the cost of informal caregiving for them, and their extra healthcare costs.
The most recent data from the infection study shows that for those who self-report long COVID of any duration, in England and Scotland, who are aged between 16 and 64 years old and are not in education are less likely to be employed or self-employed compared with those who have not reported long COVID.
On 18 December 2020, NHS England had put in place 69 dedicated clinics across the country. As of 1 April 2024, there were over 90 adult post-COVID services across England along with an additional 10 children and young people’s hubs.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many specialist clinics dedicated to treating long Covid were operating in 2020, and how many are operating now.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The most recent data from the Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study, a joint study carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency, shows that, for the period 6 February 2024 to 7 March 2024, an estimated 1.8 million people, or 3.3% of the population, in private households in England, self-reported experiencing long COVID symptoms more than four weeks after a COVID-19 infection. The following table shows a breakdown of duration:
Duration | Estimate |
4 to 11 weeks | 148,971 |
12 to 25 weeks | 105,946 |
26 to 38 weeks | 28,107 |
39 to 51 weeks | 57,164 |
52 to 77 weeks | 105,962 |
78 to 103 weeks | 116,876 |
104 to 155 weeks | 253,770 |
156 weeks and over | 365,922 |
No estimate has been made of the rate at which prevalence of long COVID is currently increasing or decreasing in England. The ONS does not regularly collect this data.
No estimate has been made of the effect of long COVID on the economy in each year from 2020 to 2024, including the effect with respect to those affected by long COVID of their economic inactivity, the diminution in their quality of life, their lost income, the cost of informal caregiving for them, and their extra healthcare costs.
The most recent data from the infection study shows that for those who self-report long COVID of any duration, in England and Scotland, who are aged between 16 and 64 years old and are not in education are less likely to be employed or self-employed compared with those who have not reported long COVID.
On 18 December 2020, NHS England had put in place 69 dedicated clinics across the country. As of 1 April 2024, there were over 90 adult post-COVID services across England along with an additional 10 children and young people’s hubs.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what research they are funding, and at what cost, into treatment options for long Covid, including clinical trials.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have dedicated funding to research into treatment options, clinical trials, and to understanding the underlying mechanisms of long COVID. This investment spans both infrastructure supported projects and programme awards.
The total funding for the research studies, which include at least one element on treatments, is over £16.2 million. We have provided the overall figures of investment into the relevant studies, although not all funding would have been directly spent on treatments or clinical trials, which are as follows:
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to NHS Digital’s General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection, what plans they have (1) to write individually to every affected patient fully explaining the proposed data acquisition and its benefits and risks, (2) to include an easily understandable summary of the Data Processing Impact Assessment in any such letter, and (3) to provide both paper and digital methods for patients to easily opt out if they so choose.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Privacy information can be communicated to patients through a range of different techniques. We have written a letter to all general practitioner (GP) practices in England who are best placed to inform patients about the data they routinely share. A copy of the letter is attached.
We are not ruling out writing to patients but there are concerns that this may not be the most effective way to communicate on this topic. Discussions are ongoing concerning writing to patients, but initially NHS Digital have been asked to work closely with the GP profession to ensure practices are supported in informing patients, whilst acknowledging the need to protect GP practices from additional burden
Patients can register a National Data Opt Out via post, phone or email, or register a Type 1 Opt Out by contacting their GP and we are looking at ways to make this process easier for patients and GPs.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the NHS Digital project to collect General Practice data for planning and research in England, whether they plan to place documents relating to the (1) transparency, (2) accountability, and (3) risks of the project in the Library of the House; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We have no plans to do so. NHS Digital has published a transparency notice and privacy notice for the programme, which is available in an online only format.
The Data Provision Notice for the data collection outlines that NHS Digital have responsibility and accountability for the dissemination of data as the Data Controller under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulations. Following the deferral of the implementation of the programme for further engagement with stakeholders, the Data Provision Notice has been withdrawn to reflect these discussions.
The Data Protection Impact Assessment for the data collection which details the privacy related risks and mitigations will also be published online following its final assurance processes.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to NHS Digital’s General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection, who was consulted about the deferral of this project; and which civil liberties organisations have been consulted about the project as a whole.
Answered by Lord Bethell
NHS Digital has engaged with a range of organisations over recent years when devising the General Practice Data for Planning and Research programme and when taking the decision to pause its implementation. This has included the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the National Data Guardian, Healthwatch England, Use My Data, the civil liberties organisation MedConfidential and research organisations.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer given by Lord Bethell on 1 December (HL10548), what “associated commercial implications” are engaged by disclosure of the requested non-commercial information; and which of the categories of non-commercial information that were requested give rise to those “associated commercial implications”.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department has considered the position of suppliers which were referred to the high priority channel. The disclosure of their names may damage the supplier’s reputation, affecting their competitive position and could have a potentially detrimental impact on their revenue and/or their ability to obtain future contracts.
Asked by: Lord Strasburger (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their guidance Testing for coronavirus: privacy information - quick read, last updated on 11 November, which states that users’ data collected during testing for COVID-19 may be shared “for research purposes”, (1) what are the research purposes, (2) who will the data be shared with, (3) how long will the data be kept, and (4) what verification will be carried out to ensure that the shared data is only used for the stated purpose and is destroyed on time.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Ensuring the privacy of users and security of their personal data is a priority for the National Health Service and the Government. We follow cyber security best practice to help protect this data and comply with the law around the use of data, including the Data Protection Act 2018. All data is handled according to the highest ethical and security standards and is used only for NHS care, management, evaluation and research into COVID-19, to which individuals may be invited to take part in a research project.
Personal information can only be seen by Public Health England staff working on NHS Test and Trace, the contact tracers working for NHS Professionals and contact tracers, who can only see the information of the named contacts they have been instructed to call.