Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans NHS England has to ensure that speech and language therapists are identified as essential members of the multi-disciplinary teams in the Designated Long COVID clinics announced on 7 October 2020.

As part of the five point plan for ‘long’ COVID-19, NHS England made £10 million available to the National Health Service to establish post COVID-19 assessment clinics. The national specification for these services asks providers ensure patients have access to a multidisciplinary team of professionals to account for the multi-system nature of post COVID-19 syndrome. Where speech and language therapy are required, patients should be able to get the treatment they need.