Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on (a) diagnostics and (b) treatment pathways for people with long covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no diagnostic tests for long COVID currently approved for use in the United Kingdom, and clinicians must rule out other conditions which present with similar symptoms to diagnose long COVID. Researchers are also working to identify blood-based biomarkers as the basis for diagnostic tests and targets for treatments.
Over the last five years, the Government, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Council, has invested over £57 million in long COVID research, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID.
This includes clinical trials to test and compare different treatments, and to improve our understanding of long COVID and how health professionals can accurately diagnose the condition. This research has improved the evidence base for clinicians in testing for and treating long COVID.
To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to develop a new Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice and to support people affected by long COVID. Further information about the society is available at the following link:
https://www.clinicalpcs.org.uk