Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 56537 on Long Covid, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure equitable access to long COVID (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment services in (i) rural and (ii) coastal Lancashire.

Since April 2024, the commissioning of long COVID services has been the responsibility of local integrated care boards, following the closure of the national long COVID programme. For the Fylde constituency, and Lancashire more widely, this is the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.

From 1 May 2025, the long COVID services in Lancashire and South Cumbria will no longer be commissioned as stand-alone services. These services have now closed to new referrals, and the way in which patients with long COVID access support will change.

Anyone currently accessing the long COVID service in Lancashire and South Cumbria will be contacted directly by their provider to let them know what will happen next and how they can continue to be supported.

People with long COVID symptoms should see their general practitoner, who will be able to refer them to alternative existing services depending on their clinical needs.

Examples of alternative services, dependent on individual patient need, include:

• talking therapies;
• pain management services;
• respiratory/pulmonary rehabilitation services; and
• community therapies, such as occupational therapy and physiotherapy.

Referrals can also be made to:

• other specialties, including cardiology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, neurology;
• local wellbeing and support organisations; and
• local social prescribing services.