Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what preparations his Department is making for the increase in numbers of people with long covid following the winter 2020-21 spike in covid infections.

In October 2020, NHS England announced a £10 million investment package to support people with ‘long’ COVID-19. As part of the investment, 69 post-COVID-19 assessment service centres are operational across England to assess people with long-term effects of COVID-19 and direct them to effective treatment pathways. Seven trusts in the Greater Manchester area are already providing clinics. A further 12 long COVID-19 assessment service centres are expected to launch in early 2021 nationally.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published a clinical case definition of long COVID-19 in October 2020 and evidence-based clinical guidelines for medical staff treating people with long COVID-19 in December 2020. This is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng188