Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the ability of long covid clinics to offer a full range of treatments and advice for patients in a timely manner.

The Department has not made a formal assessment.

NHS England and NHS Improvement operate 90 post-COVID-19 assessment services across England and publish national guidance which supports commissioners to design and implement local care pathways. This has been developed using guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NHS England and NHS Improvement have also established 14 children and young people’s hubs in England to coordinate care across a range of services.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have published data on waiting times for an initial assessment at a post-COVID-19 service since October 2021. From 30 August to 26 September 2021, 31% of those who had their initial specialist assessment were seen within six weeks, 43% within eight weeks and 33% of patients waited longer than 15 weeks. As this is experimental data, there may be some variation due to incomplete data submissions.