Health Minister Eluned Morgan promises more help for people with Long COVID in Wales

Health Minister Eluned Morgan announced the findings of an independent review into Long COVID healthcare in Wales on 8th February 2022 and promised continued support.

We want everyone with Long COVID to know that we haven’t forgotten you.

Following a £5 million investment in the Adferiad Long COVID programme in 2021 the Health Minister announced in a Press Briefing that 2,400 people have accessed the programme.  2,226 have used services, with only 3.5% being referred to secondary services. Only a very small number are children.  The app has been downloaded over 10,000 times.

The ONS has reported that at least 60,000 people in Wales are suffering from some form of post COVID symptoms and the Health Minister acknowledged that some people during 2020, would have struggled to access support, but that the Welsh Government “can and will do better”.

Ms Morgan encouraged people with ongoing symptoms to contact their GP, who will make ‘a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms’, and provide ‘support and care which is tailored to their needs and symptoms, as close to home as possible.’

In addition, Wales is taking part in UK wide studies into Long COVID. Ms Morgan has set up a long COVID expert group ‘to consider the impact of the condition, treatment and referral methods’ and the COVID Evidence Centre has been established as part of Health and Care Research Wales. It will soon begin a Long COVID work programme to explore the specific needs in Wales.

What was missing from the Health Minister’s announcements was any understanding that:

• Long COVID is only the most recent post-viral condition to require healthcare
• Other conditions, like ME/CFS have been, and still are ‘forgotten’ or mismanaged
• There is much to learn about Long COVID from people with ME/CFS and research into the illness
• Long COVID should be seen, researched and managed in a wider post-viral context

WAMES is pleased that people with Long COVID are being acknowledged and offered some services less than 2 years after their post-viral illness was recognised.

WAMES will be asking the Welsh Government and NHS Wales for acknowledgement that the 13,500 plus people with post-viral ME/CFS in Wales should no longer be forgotten and also offered recognition, ‘comprehensive assessments’ and ‘support and care close to home’, even if it does come many years or even decades later than for those with Long COVID.

Find out more:

Welsh Parliament Plenary 08/02/2022: Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Long COVID

Wales Online video: Health Minister Long Covid Press Briefing [Statement: 8 mins followed by Q&A]

Wales Online: Wales’ health minister promises to ‘do better’ in helping long Covid sufferers 

Western Telegraph: Long Covid: Wales helps to treat and manage people’s needs

NHS Confederation: Long Covid care in Wales

ITV Wales: Long Covid: ‘I’m a shell of my former self’ says young woman among 60,000 living with syndrome

“One of the best quotes I’ve ever heard is that we’re flying the plane while we’re still building it, it’s massive in that sense, and we’re still waiting on all the evidence.

“We are hoping that in 12 to 24 months we will see a massive change in a patient’s condition with Long Covid, but certainly at the moment the jury is out on that one.”        (Nicola Perry-Gower, pulmonary rehabilitation clinical lead at Swansea Bay UHB)

BBC News: Long Covid: ‘My shame over 18-month work absence’

SBUHB: Health Minister visits Swansea Bay’s long Covid services