NHS England: National guidance for post-COVID syndrome assessment clinics (Version 2, April 2021)

  • Post category:Academia

NHS England and NHS Improvement recently published their updated National guidance for post-COVID syndrome assessment clinics in April 2021.

The guidance builds upon its initial version, published in November 2020, which announced its £20 million investment into setting up 40 Long COVID clinics to assess and manage these individuals and recommended the use of the C19-YRS as an outcome measure to be used at first assessment, 6 weeks and 6 months to monitor progress.

This latest version directly references ELAROS’ digital C19-YRS on page 32, recommending continued use of the tool for the initial assessment and triaging of long Covid patients.

Its Purpose:

“The purpose of this document is to inform the commissioning of post-COVID syndrome assessment clinics. This guidance will assist local healthcare systems in establishing and maintaining post-COVID assessment services for patients experiencing long-term health effects following COVID-19 infection.

Clinics should offer physical, cognitive, psychological and psychiatric assessments with the aim of providing consistent services for people with post-COVID syndrome (‘Long COVID’). These services should support those who need them, irrespective of whether they were hospitalised and regardless of whether clinically diagnosed or by a SARS-CoV-2 test.”

Published on the 26th April, 2021: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/11/C1248-national-guidance-post-covid-syndrome-assessment-clinics-v2.pdf