The CSP has welcomed the NHS’s announcement of investment for people with long-term Covid-19 symptoms, and its recognition that long Covid is a severe and long term health condition that requires rehabilitation to recover.
The CSP is calling for a national rehab strategy in each of the four UK nations as these services now face new and additional levels of unmet need.
The plan needs to ensure the crisis of long waiting lists and gaps in services that existed before long Covid are addressed so that patients can continue to get access to the expert rehab support they need at the right time.
CSP chief executive Karen Middleton said: ‘This announcement is a positive step in the right direction. Long Covid has presented us with an urgent need for rehabilitation services which we know are patchy at best and under considerable strain due to years of under resourcing and funding.
‘This investment will go a long way to help patients get the support and care they need to recover from long Covid, but a significant number of patients suffering from the ongoing symptoms will need to access NHS and social care rehab programmes.
Many will be frail and require additional social care support to undertake the rehab that they need to recover.
‘If we are serious about tackling the health inequalities that Covid and long Covid have so clearly revealed then it is vital that a national plan is put in place so that patients all over the country can access the support they need at the right time.’
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