Support available at Long COVID clinics must reflect the wide variety of symptoms

Today the NHS has announced that there are 69 Long COVID clinics now operating across England, with patients able to access these services by referral through a GP or another healthcare professional.[1]

The clinics form part of the NHS’s five-point package to support Long COVID patients, aimed at providing multi-professional advice and support to help ensure people are put onto the right clinical pathway to treat their symptoms.[2] Patient Safety Learning welcomes today’s publication of the location of these new clinics in England, which we initially called for in September.[3]

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Royal College of General Practitioners have also published today a new guideline for identification, assessment and management of Long COVID.[4] As a stakeholder in the taskforce advising NHS England and NHS Improvement on support for patients living with Long COVID we fed back the concerns that patients have been sharing with us as part of the consultation process on this guideline.

Patient Safety Learning believes that the NHS needs to put in place a broad plan for engaging and communicating with Long COVID patients. In a recent blog on this we suggested several actions concerning Long COVID clinics where we felt it would be beneficial for the NHS to provide greater clarity on their plans.[5] In addition to publishing a list of the initial set of clinics, we believe the NHS should share a more specific timeframe for the completed roll-out of all the intended clinics.

We also believe that clarity is now needed from the devolved healthcare systems in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales on plans for similar services, to avoid a postcode lottery emerging for Long COVID patients in different parts of the United Kingdom.[6]

Commenting on today’s news, Patient Safety Learning’s Chief Executive Helen Hughes said:

“We welcome today’s update on Long COVID clinics and the publication of new guidance on managing this for healthcare practitioners. We believe it is important that these clinics provide access to the specialist support needed, as patients can present with a variety of symptoms.

We feel that there needs to be significant improvement in how the NHS engages and communicates with people living with Long COVID. This should include information about the roll-out of support in all areas of the UK and an increase in patient resources”.

Your views and experiences

If you’re accessing services via one of these Long COVID clinics, or if you have specific views about the newly issued guidance, please do let us know your thoughts on our patient safety platform the hub.

Appendix – List of Long COVID clinics published today

1. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
2. Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
3. Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust -Berkshire Long Covid Integrated Service
4. Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
5. Virgin Care Services Limited and Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
6. Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
7. Royal Surrey County Hospital
8. East Surrey and west Sussex- First Community Health and Care
9. Community Surrey Health Surrey and Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital
10. Surrey Downs Health and Care Partnership
11. East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
12. Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
13. East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
14. Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
15. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
16. Mid and South Essex- Provide Community Interest Company.
17. Hertfordshire Community Service Health Care Trust
18. Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.
19. Norfolk Community Health and Care Trust
20. Liverpool university Foundation Hospital Trust
21. Manchester Foundation Trust (Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wythenshawe Hospital)
22. North Care Alliance (Salford Royal Foundation Trust, Royal Oldham Hospital)
23. North Manchester General
24. Tameside and Glossop Integrated Trust
25. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
26. Wrightington Wigan and Leigh Foundation Trust
27. Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
28. Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS foundation Trust
29. North Cumbria Integrated Care Foundation Trust
30. The Newcastle upon Tyne Foundation Hospitals Trust
31. Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust
32. County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust
33. North Tees and Hartlepool Foundation Trust
34. South Tees Hospitals Foundation Trust
35. York Teaching Hospital HS Foundation Trust
36. Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
37. North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust
38. Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
39. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust
40. The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
41. Barnsley Healthcare Federation
42. Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
43. Bradford Teaching hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
44. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
45. The Mid Yorkshire Hospital NHS Trust
46. Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
47. University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW)
48. Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
49. Shropshire Community Health Trust
50. Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust
51. Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
52. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust
53. The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
54. Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Northampton General Hospital, Kettering General Hospital
55. University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust and Provider Company Ltd arm of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Alliance
56. Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire -Wiltshire health and care
57. Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire – Sirona care and Health
58. Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust
59. Gloucestershire health and care foundation Trust
60. University College London Hospital Trust (UCLH)
61. Homerton University Hospital Foundation Trust (Homerton University Hospital)
62. Barts Health NHS Trust, Royal London Hospital and St Bartholomew’s Hospital
63. Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (King George Hospital)
64. London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (Northwick Park Hospital)
65. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (St Marys Hospital)
66. Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Trust Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
67. Kings Health Partners (Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust) – St Thomas Site
68. Kings Health Partners (Kings College Health Foundation Trust) kings College Hospital
69. St Georges NHS Trust St Georges Hospital

[1] NHS England and NHS Improvement, Long COVID patients to get help at more than 60 clinics, 18 December 2020. https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/12/long-covid-patients-to-get-help-at-more-than-60-clinics/

[2] Patient Safety Learning, NHS announces five-point package to support Long Covid patients, 7 October 2020. https://www.patientsafetylearning.org/press-releases/nhs-announces-five-point-package-to-support-long-covid-patients

[3] Patient Safety Learning, Patient Safety learning calls for the NHS to publish details of post-COVID clinics, 11 September 2020. https://www.patientsafetylearning.org/press-releases/patient-safety-learning-calls-for-the-nhs-to-publish-details-of-post-covid-clinics

[4] NICE, COVID-19 rapid guideline: managing the long-term effects of COVID-19, 18 December 2020. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng188

[5] Patient Safety Learning, Clear NHS plan needed to reassure Long COVID patients, 19 November 2020. https://www.patientsafetylearning.org/blog/clear-nhs-plan-needed-to-reassure-long-covid-patients

[6] BBC News, Coronavirus: Call to help those suffering from long COVID, 18 November 2020. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54980597, BBC News, Covid in Scotland: No clinics for thousands of ‘long Covid’ patients, 11 November 2020. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-54893317, BBC News, Long Covid: Calls for specialist clinics in Wales, 11 November 2020. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54888774

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