Long Covid: Children
(asked on 19th April 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department will increase capacity for children at Long Covid clinics.
Answered by
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department continues to keep arrangements for children with the long term effects of COVID-19 under review, including ensuring that there is sufficient capacity within the services to support them. NHS England has established 14 Post COVID-19 specialist paediatric hubs to provide support to local paediatric services through multidisciplinary assessment and advice for children and young people with the most complex needs, to the age of 18 years old.
The hubs bring together expert clinical teams, including paediatricians, physiotherapists, nurses and occupational therapists, to provide a holistic assessment. The Post COVID-19 specialist paediatric hubs are collecting data and improving data quality to enable the publication of activity including referrals, assessments and waiting times in summer 2022, which will inform decisions on future service provision. Following assessment in the Post COVID-19 services, appropriate treatment including rehabilitation will be provided locally to the child or young person.