Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of regional differences in the (a) availability, (b) accessibility and (c) resourcing of NHS Long COVID assessment and treatment services.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are independently responsible for the commissioning of long COVID services which meet the needs of their population, subject to local prioritisation and funding. While this may result in regional and local variation of long COVID services, NHS England has published updated commissioning guidance for post-COVID services which sets out a blueprint for best practice in supporting people with long COVID and is designed to be adapted to local needs. The updated commissioning guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-commissioning-guidance-for-post-covid-services/

As of 1 April 2024, there were over 90 adult post-COVID services across England along with an additional ten children and young people’s hubs. Further information about these services is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/post-covid-syndrome-long-covid/

In addition to the support provided in primary care, published data from April 2024 shows over 100,000 people have been seen by a specialist post-COVID service, with a further 350,000 follow up appointments taking place. The data is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-post-covid-assessment-service/