Long Covid
(asked on 12th March 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to NHS trusts on the provision of support for long COVID (a) clinics and (b) patients.
Commissioning of post-COVID services transitioned from the long COVID national programme to local integrated care boards (ICBs) at the end of March 2024. Funding for post-COVID services in 2024/25 was expected to be allocated based on the 2023/24 distribution, to minimise disruption to funding flows and to maintain services.
NHS England has recently completed a long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) stocktake, aimed to provide a nationwide overview of service delivery in commissioning and contracting, assessing access, activity and outcomes. It was agreed that long COVID and ME/CFS services are rightly commissioned by ICBs, which have responsibility for ensuring coverage for their population.
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 to support people affected by long COVID.
NHS England has published commissioning guidance for post-COVID services which sets out the commissioning, service requirements and oversight of post-COVID services by ICBs in England for adults, and children and young people. It outlines the elements that post-COVID services should comprise of and the principles of care for long COVID. The guidance is available at the following link:
There is specific advice for general practitioners to manage long COVID. Patients should be managed according to current clinical guidance such as that published and updated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence; this is available at the following link: