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Disabled, Discharged and Disappearing from View

BySteve

By Long Covid Support and Long Covid Kids

Vital Long Covid Clinics Closing Across the UK Despite Ongoing Need, New Research Warns

A study by Long Covid Support and Long Covid Kids has unveiled alarming gaps in Long Covid care, revealing that numerous specialist services across the UK are either shutting down or facing imminent closure. Despite NHS England confirming funding for Long Covid services through 2025/26, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and direct communications with service providers indicate that many are already closing or operating under uncertainty.

This report explores the experiences of people with Long Covid in the UK in using NHS services. It views these experiences within the context of uncertainty around the future funding model from NHS England and the fragmented approaches to Long Covid care in the devolved nations. We use information from
a number of sources to challenge the view that it is appropriate to
de-prioritise specialist Long Covid services in the UK.

Who this report is for
This report is intended for policymakers and government departments, including Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Department for Education (DfE), the Health Select Committee, health secretaries, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Long Covid.
It is also relevant to National Health
Service (NHS) health authorities such as NHS England, individual healthcare boards in

This is a long read, but you have everything here. The “Hidden demand” figure on page 47 says for the Derbyshire case study shows that less demand for services isn’t the reason the services are closing down.

View the full report online here:

Disabled, Discharged and Disappearing from View

The slides presented online are now included below:

Long-Covid-Clinic-Report-Webinar-LCS-LCK-M-OHara-Apr-2025-Final

The slide pack is also available here

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