Hundreds treated for long Covid in Suffolk and North Essex
People with coronavirus symptoms for longer than 12 weeks are encouraged to seek support
Hundreds of people continue to be supported for long Covid-19 symptoms in Suffolk and North Essex.
According to East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, its Care Coordination Centre (CCC) has received 278 referrals via the Suffolk and North East Essex Long Covid-19 Assessment Service (SNELCAS) since December.
The Trust has also gone onto make 365 onward referrals, which can be to more than one other service for some patients, depending on the symptoms they experience.
CCC Service Manager, Nicky Bullard, said long Covid-19 can have a "huge impact" on people:
"The service has been very well received by patients since it launched as we are able to put everything in place which they may need and track them through their recovery, in turn making sure they don’t fall through any gaps between services.
"SNELCAS is a great example of different organisations working together seamlessly to make sure our patients receive the right specialist support at the right time."
While they service directs people to care and support for their symptoms, not a lot is known about long Covid-19 and why it develops.
Dr Peter Holloway, Clinical Lead for SNELCAS, said it's not one size fits all:
"We still don't fully understand what's causing it long Covid, there's various theories, but until we do fully understand what's causing it, it's very difficult to design effective treatments.
"Somebody can have quite severe Covid and yet recover very well. Somebody can have what, at the time, seemed quite minor Covid symptoms and yet unfortunately go on to develop debilitating long Covid symptoms.
"Every patient is different, every patient's presentation is different, so the assessment has to be very individually tailored."