Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the funding provided by Government for research into an agreed paediatric definition of Long Covid; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of that funding.
No specific assessment has been made. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including post- COVID-19 syndrome. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the NIHR’s funding is dependent on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
The NIHR and UK Research and Innovation have awarded £1.36 million over three years for a study ‘Children and young people with Long Covid: CLoCK’, by University College London and Great Ormond Street’s Institute of Child Health. The NIHR awarded a further £468,661 to the study to support additional recruitment and further analyses. The study’s three-month findings were recently published in the Lancet at the following link:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(22)00022-0/fulltext
Further findings will be published shortly.