Sir Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England said there were "tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands" of patients affected.

People with relatively mild coronavirus infections as well as those who have been treated in intensive care can have persistent health problems for months. The most common symptom of long Covid is crippling fatigue. But breathlessness, joint pain, anxiety, brain fog and many other symptoms have also been reported.

Sir Simon said £10m would be invested this year in setting up long-Covid clinics in every area across England, to provide one-stop services for physical and mental health issues. Patients will have access to assessments for health issues, memory problems or mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety. They can then be referred to other specialist clinics if required.

Dundee student Evie Connell, 23, was going to the gym four times a week before she caught the virus, in March. Her symptoms were mild at first - a migraine, cough and temperature. But they did not go away. And months later, she had a racing heart rate and worrying chest pain, which turned into chronic fatigue.

"I would come home and go to bed and sleep, then get up just in time to work again the next day," Evie says. "I couldn't tell you anything I did outside of going to work."

Evie was signed off work after her GP referred her to a Covid rehab team at her local hospital, where she is seeing a physiotherapist who is teaching her how to pace herself.

Now back at university, Evie has to take breaks during classes because she cannot concentrate. She has been unable to focus on reading a book in six months and says, "I'm just hoping I can get back to work soon, otherwise the money will run out."

"Long Covid" - the long-lasting impact of coronavirus infection - may be affecting people in four different ways, according to a review. And this could explain why some of those with continuing symptoms are not being believed or treated.

There could be a huge psychological impact on people living with long-term Covid-19, the National Institute for Health Research report says. They need more support - and healthcare staff require better information.

Most people are told they will recover from mild coronavirus infections within two weeks and from more serious disease within three. But the report says thousands could be living with "ongoing Covid". And with coronavirus cases rising across the UK, this number is also likely to increase in the coming months.

Based on interviews with 14 members of a long-Covid support group on Facebook and the most recent published research, the review found recurring symptoms affecting everything from breathing, the brain, the heart and cardiovascular system to the kidneys, the gut, the liver and the skin.

These symptoms may be due to four different syndromes:

• permanent organ damage to the lungs and heart
• post-intensive-care syndrome
• post-viral fatigue syndrome
• continuing Covid-19 symptoms

Some of those affected have had a long stay in hospital with severe Covid-19 - but others, who have had a mild infection, have never even been tested or diagnosed. The review says coming up with a "working diagnosis for ongoing Covid-19" would help people access support.

Report author Dr Elaine Maxwell said she had assumed those who had been seriously ill with Covid-19 would be affected the most and those at low risk of death were also at low risk of living with its long-term effects. But the review found this was not the case.

More than seven months on from contracting Covid-19, I look fairly normal. There are bags under my eyes but generally I look ok.

It is one of the first things people say: "You look fine - you must be feeling better?" And there is a lesson there.

Over the years as a journalist I have done news stories and documentaries that have touched on the lives of people in chronic pain. The question was how to convey their suffering on camera and get viewers to empathise with something that was essentially invisible?

The answer was to tell the story in their own words. To allow them to give voice to the pain.

I am more comfortable telling other people's stories. But for once I need to tell my own, because I feel I need to explain what "long Covid" is like.

My sick note from the doctor says "post viral fatigue after contracting Covid-19". For me, it is painfully evident but others can't see how it has affected me for months.

A sports instructor suffering from "long Covid" says she struggles to speak, climb stairs and do everyday tasks since becoming unwell in March. Sarah Wakefield, 46, from Bridgend, said: "I feel like I'm 96. It's horrible."

Mrs Wakefield was working as a mountain bike coach and paddle sports instructor but says she now struggles to carry laundry upstairs, make tea or help her three children with homework because of her symptoms.

Campaign group Long Covid Wales wants specialist clinics across Wales, similar to those planned for England.

The Welsh Government said it expected health boards to develop and improve access to rehabilitation services.

Lee David Bowen, 49, from Trethomas, Caerphilly, is a professional opera singer who has previously performed with the Welsh National Opera. He has been suffering with fatigue and brain fog since he became unwell with Covid-19 at the end of February.

He said: "Something as simple as cooking a meal can be shattering, really debilitating. Trying to catch up on admin, emails from my agent or whatever, you get through one email and it's exhausting, absolutely exhausting."

He thinks some people with long Covid have been ignored by their GPs.

"It's just very saddening to see these people are not being taken seriously," he added. "And I can see that not only is there going to be a physical health problem for people, but there's a massive mental health problem that's coming down the line."

New guidelines written by NICE, along with its Scottish counterpart SIGN and the Royal College of GPs, list more than two dozen common long-term symptoms including breathlessness, a cough that won't go away, joint pain, muscle aches, hearing problems, headaches, loss of smell and dizziness.

Mental health problems have been reported including depression, anxiety and struggling to think clearly.

Figures published by the ONS suggest one in 10 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in a household survey still had symptoms 12 weeks later - but this is still experimental data.

Published to help doctors diagnose and treat long Covid, the new guidance says the symptoms are often unpredictable, affecting patients in different ways at different times.

It says the likelihood of developing longer-term complications is not thought to be linked to either the severity of the original infection or whether the patient has been admitted to hospital.

It recommends that anyone discharged from hospital after Covid should be offered a video or phone call six weeks later to check for new or ongoing symptoms. Those with severe breathlessness or other respiratory problems should be offered a chest X-ray.

Those who do not need hospital treatment but are still concerned about their health eight weeks after infection should also be offered a consultation and referred to rehabilitation or specialist services if needed.

Opening a debate in the Commons, Layla Moran, Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon, said 300,000 people were now living with the long-term effects of the virus in the UK.

Health Minister Nadine Dorries said 12 more long Covid clinics would open in England, bringing the total to 81.

The All-Party Group on Coronavirus is calling for long Covid to be recognised as an occupational disease. It was set up in July to scrutinise the government's handling of the pandemic. Ms Moran, who is chair of the group, said frontline workers should have access to a compensation scheme if they are unable to return to work.

Ms Dorries told the Commons the NHS and wider scientific community were working to better understand long Covid. She said the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and UK Research and Innovation had invested £8.4m into a post-hospitalisation Covid-19 study at the University of Leicester.

The new long Covid clinics will launch in the East Midlands, Lancashire, Cornwall and the Isle of Wight.

Many people with Covid-19 temporarily lose their sense of smell. As they recover, it usually returns - but some are finding that things smell different, and things that should smell nice, such as food, soap, and their loved ones, smell repulsive. The numbers with this condition, known as parosmia, are constantly growing, but scientists are not sure why it happens, or how to cure it.

Clare Freer ends up in tears whenever she tries to cook for her family of four.
"I go dizzy with the smells. A putrid smell fills the house as soon as the oven goes on and it's unbearable," she says. The 47-year-old from Sutton Coldfield has been living with parosmia for seven months and it makes many everyday smells disgusting. "I can't even kiss my partner any more," she says.

Onions, coffee, meat, fruit, alcohol, toothpaste, cleaning products and perfume all make her want to vomit. Tap water has the same effect (though not filtered water), which makes washing difficult.

Since the summer she has been living on a diet of bread and cheese because it is all she can tolerate. "I have zero energy and ache all over," she says. It has also affected her emotionally; she says she cries most days.

"Although the anosmia wasn't nice, I was still able to carry on with life as normal and continue to eat and drink," Clare says. "I would live with that forever, in a heartbeat, if it meant being rid of parosmia."

Clare's GP said he'd never come across her condition before. Frightened and bewildered, she turned to the internet for answers and found a Facebook group with 6,000 members set up by the smell loss charity, AbScent.

Nearly all had started with anosmia arising from Covid-19, and ended up with parosmia. "Common descriptors of the different parosmia smells include: death, decay, rotten meat, faeces," says AbScent founder Chrissi Kelly, who set up the Facebook group in June after what she describes as a "tidal wave" of Covid-19 parosmia cases. People have used phrases like "fruity sewage", "hot soggy garbage" and "rancid wet dog".

If this is correct, up to 6.5 million of the 100 million who have had Covid-19 worldwide may now be experiencing long-covid parosmia.

Liberal Democrat Layla Moran asks the prime minister whether a compensation fund will be set up for NHS staff who are suffering with "long Covid".

She says it could be classed as an "occupational disease" and the fund could mirror that for armed services personnel.

Boris Johnson says it will be important to "look after" NHS staff, and commends their "incredible sacrifice" during the pandemic.

'Staggering' number of long Covid cases, MP warns

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-55668650



Thankfully, this legacy of COVID infection is being taken seriously .....