How the closure of long Covid clinics is leaving patients without the treatment they desperately need

Long Covid clinics across the country are closing their doors, leaving desperate patients without vital treatment and feeling ‘abandoned’, they have claimed.

Dedicated clinics set up to support long Covid patients in Surrey, Croydon, Hertfordshire and Lanarkshire have been shuttered, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

A service in Devon will close in the New Year, patients have told this newspaper, and we have learned that clinics in Frimley may also be facing the axe.

Now, campaigners and doctors speaking to this newspaper say this winding down of long Covid provisions will have a devastating impact on the millions suffering from the condition.

‘It shows that the NHS and Government are not interested in long Covid,’ said Kent-based GP Dr Stephanie De Giorgio.

Rachel Hext was forced to give up work as a nurse in 2022 after never recovering from Covid

‘They genuinely don’t consider this a priority despite the vast amount of people who currently need treatment – and the many more who may need treatment in the future. This isn’t a niche service – the NHS needs to accept long Covid as a real and far-reaching problem.’

While most people recover from Covid within days or weeks and make a full recovery within three months, for some the symptoms last longer. An estimated 1.9 million people in the UK were suffering with persisting issues after Covid, as of March 2023.

Patients report fatigue, shortness of breath, problems with memory and concentration – so-called ‘brain fog’ – muscle aches and joint pain, dizziness and palpitations among other things.

For some, these can be so severe it prevent them working, going to school or carrying out even basic daily tasks.

This was the case for 36-year-old Rachel Hext, who was forced to give up work as a nurse two years ago after catching Covid and never recovering.

The mother-of-two first became ill while working on a Covid ward in her hospital, just after returning from maternity leave. Later on, Rachel regularly had treatment at her closest long Covid clinic in Torbay, Devon – having been referred by her GP.

These services, launched in November 2020 with a special £10million ring-fenced fund, were designed to be a one-stop-shop staffed by a range of specialists who could help tackle the variety of complaints that hit long Covid patients.

But Rachel says her local clinic is soon to close. ‘In spring, my doctor called to tell me that the clinic would be closing in the summer,’ she said.

‘He said that I would still be able to get treatment by specialists for whatever conditions had already been diagnosed with.

But he couldn’t answer what would happen with new referrals, or how I would get help for any new problems that might crop up.’ Rachel said she was later informed that the facility had been granted an extension but would be closing in the New Year.

When contacted by The Mail on Sunday, NHS Devon denied there were plans to decommission their long Covid service, although e-mails from clinicians working at the clinic contradict this.

The 36-year-old first became ill while working on a Covid ward in her hospital

The mother-of-two, pictured with her children, says her local clinic in Devon has closed

Rachel says she fears for others in her area with the condition if this crucial support is pulled.

‘There are some people who have a huge number of issues and they won’t be able to get proper treatment without dedicated long Covid clinics,’ she said.

Long Covid campaigners say the closures are due to funding issues and the fact that fewer people are seeking care from them.

Originally run by NHS England, responsibility for the clinics was handed to integrated care boards (ICBs) – the 42 bodies in England which allocate funding to local health services – earlier this year.

In Scotland, 14 NHS Boards have a similar role. Support groups say that since this shift, patients and staff have reported closures and a scaling back of services. They say that key personnel are being redeployed or leaving the NHS altogether.

‘NHS England de-prioritised long Covid by not mandating that ICBs keep running the clinics,’ said Manchester-based lung expert Dr Binita Kane.

‘They may claim that fewer people are using the services, but I suspect what’s actually happening is that fewer people are testing for Covid now, making it harder to get a long Covid diagnosis further down the line.

‘Long Covid patients who have had it for a while may have improved or are ironically considered too severe for treatment. This may make it seem like the clinics are less necessary – but there are many more long Covid patients still in need of help.’

The challenge if clinics all close down, Dr Kane added, is that these patients will now have to be absorbed into existing services that aren’t set up to deal with their complex symptoms.

NHS England and the Scottish government have been approached for comment.