More than 80 Long Covid clinics to be opened by NHS in England with extra £24m funding

More than 80 new clinics to assess patients suffering with symptoms of Long Covid are to be opened by the NHS by the end of this month with an extra investment of £24m.

NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said the health service must “continue to expand its offer for Long Covid” adding there will be even more funding earmarked for the problem in the future.

Speaking at the Health Service Journal’s leadership congress on Wednesday, Sir Simon said: “We have 69 clinics identified last year and we will have 83 long Covid clinics in place by the end of this month, so a significant expansion there.

“We will be backing that with at least £24 million revenue funding going into this New Year, up from the £10 million announced last year, and there will be more to come on the back of that as well.”

Recent estimates by the Office for National Statistics found more than a million people could be experiencing long Covid beyond four weeks with 674,000 people saying it was affecting their day to day lives. Almost 200,000 people have said their ability to carry out normal activities has been severely limited by the condition.

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Source: The Independent, 14 April 2021