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Long Covid: What needs to happen next? Webinar involving LOCOMOTION Team Members

Date

Long Covid: What needs to happen next?

An online webinar organised by Long Covid Support in partnership with North Thames NIHR Clinical Research Network and Long Covid Scotland.

  • Day 1: 5th July 2023, 10am - 1pm
  • Day 2: 6th July 2023, 10am - 1pm

This webinar will discuss where we are in terms of research and clinical care for Long Covid in the UK, where we need to get to, and how we will get there. The event will be recorded and will be made available afterwards.

[Update 20/07/2023] The event took place successfully and recordings of all the sessions are now available online (click here to access them).

LOCOMOTION Involvement

There is plenty of involvement from LOCOMOTION team members in this event!

Trish Greenhalgh (LOCOMOTION workstream 1 lead) is one of the speakers on day 2 of the webinar. She will be speaking about 'Implementing research into clinical practice'.

Joseph Kwon (Member of LOCOMOTION work package 3.2) is one of the speakers on day 2 of the webinar. He will be speaking about the 'Economic Impact of Long COVID'.

Nikki Smith (LOCOMOTION Patient Advisory Group Member) is co-chairing one of the day 1 sessions  and will be on the panel for questions/discussion at the end of Day 2.

Ruairidh Milne (LOCOMOTION Patient Advisory Group Co-Lead) is part of the Long Covid Support working group organising the webinar.

There is also involvement from other members of the LOCOMOTION team to be confirmed!

Background to the webinar (from the meeting organisers)

The long-term consequences of Covid infection currently affect around 2 million people in the UK. A vast number of people have been ill for over 3 years and every day more people develop Long Covid.

There are now many research papers on Long Covid helping us to understand the prevalence of ongoing symptoms. We have plausible theories as to the disease mechanisms and an understanding of how to treat the associated disorders such as POTS, MCAS, and breathing pattern disorder. However, there is significantly more that needs to be discovered, including treatments for Long Covid.

In the UK, dedicated Long Covid research funding was committed by the NIHR in 2020 and 2021, but no further dedicated funding has been allocated.

In addition, many people struggle to obtain effective care from primary and secondary care providers, and many clinicians remain unclear on how to manage Long Covid. Long Covid Clinics were initiated by NHS England but the need was underestimated and responsibility for clinics is now being passed to regional Integrated Care Services. No dedicated clinics were ever centrally mandated in the other countries of the UK.