"Long Covid"

Posted on behalf of the Long Covid Service

Dear Mar33

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us via Care Opinion. We are extremely sorry to hear that you contracted Covid 19 while working as a frontline worker. This must have been very frightening for you and you were clearly very unwell, and have had to deal with the impact of this condition on your health and wellbeing. I hope that your symptoms are starting to ease and that you are feeling more able to live well.

I am extremely sorry that you had to wait for six months to be seen by the long covid service. If you are a NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) frontline worker you should have been referred to the Occupational Health Employee Long Covid Service. I am unable to tell from your comment if this is the service you waited for or if you waited to see someone at the NHSGGGC AHP Long Covid Service which commenced in April 2023. Both services used a Self-Management Approach, this follows Long Covid SIGN guidelines. There is currently no cure for this condition, once a General Practitioner has provided a diagnosis (by excluding other conditions which present similarly to long covid) and prescribed medication that may alleviate or manage an individuals symptoms – they typically refer onto the covid service. Advanced practitioners then work with the individual to identify personal goals and ensure that any interventions are agreed by the individual. This involves learning to manage the symptoms associated with the condition to allow people to get back to doing the things that are important to them.

The Scottish Government has invested in a platform called C-19 YRS, all long covid services now upload pre and post outcome data on this site. In addition to this nationally and internationally the research community continue to gather data relating to the covid 19 pandemic. As already said, at present there is no known cure for the Covid 19 infection but vaccination is available to minimise the spread of the disease.

Kind Regards

Samantha

Dear Mar33

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience of what has a difficult health journey for you since contracting COVID. I apologise for the length of time you waited for your spirometry test and CT scan. Regrettably our patients are waiting longer for tests. There are a number of factors which are impacting on our capacity and we wish to assure you that we are making every effort to reduce the waiting times for our patients and improve the services that we provide.

Take Care

Nicole