Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what analysis has been undertaken of the variation in the cost of providing first appointments for those presenting with long Covid symptoms at different hospital trusts across England; and what are the highest and lowest per-patient costs for such initial consultations.

There is an outpatient activity speciality for post-COVID-19 syndrome services, also known as long COVID services, with a treatment function code (TFC) of 348. The average costs for a first-time appointment for those presenting with long COVID symptoms for the 2023/24 financial year were as follows:

- for face to face attendance to a consultant-led appointment, the cost was £595;

- for face to face attendance to a non-consultant led appointment, the cost was £205;

- for non-face to face attendance to a consultant-led appointment, the cost was £595; and

- for non-face to face attendance to a non-consultant led appointment, the cost was £205.

The attached table shows a breakdown of highest, lowest, and average costs of face to face and non-face to face, as well as consultant led and non-consultant led, appointments for those presenting with long COVID symptoms.

Many patients may have been referred to other specialities and then subsequently been identified as suffering from long COVID and may, therefore, be being treated under a different speciality. This could include respiratory medicine, with a TFC of 341, cardiology, with a TFC of 320, and neurology, with a TFC of 400. Outpatients will only include the speciality the patient was seen in, and not what the patient was seen for, unless they were referred to a specific long COVID clinic. The average cost is available on the national cost collection publication on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format.