Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the understanding and treatment of long covid; and what plans he has to provide additional support to people with long covid in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

On 15 June, NHS England and NHS Improvement published a new 10-point plan and announced an additional £100 million expansion of care for patients with ‘long’ COVID-19 in England. This additional investment includes £70 million which will be used to expand treatment and rehabilitation services and establish 15 paediatric hubs to coordinate care for children and young people. One of the paediatric hubs will be set up within Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. The remaining £30 million will be used for an enhanced service for general practice to support ‘long’ COVID-19 care and enable consistent referrals.

Research is ongoing to understand the virus and its long-term effects. Over £30 million has already been committed to ‘long’ COVID-19 research projects and a further £20 million for a further research call which closed on 12 May. Successful applicants will be announced in due course.