Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department plans to allocate to support people with long covid.

NHS England has invested £314 million since the start of the pandemic to provide care and support for people with long COVID. This includes establishing specialist clinics throughout England to assess children and young people who are experiencing long-term effects of COVID-19 infection. A further £86.7 million of funding was included in integrated care board (ICB) core allocations for 2024/25, and specific regional funding was also allocated for assurance and system support.

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. Since April 2024, commissioning of long COVID services has been the responsibility of local ICBs following the closure of the national programme.

The Government has also invested over £57 million into long COVID research. The projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, and to evaluate clinical care.