New Million-pound Research Project to Investigate Support for Long Covid Patients

As the country learns to adapt to the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic, a major new million-pound research project will consider how best to support individuals suffering from ‘long Covid’.

The University of Lincoln, UK, alongside five other British universities, will work on potentially ground-breaking research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to understand and tackle long Covid.

Long Covid refers to the continued symptoms that occur for long periods of time after the initial illness. Close to a million people in the UK were experiencing long Covid in June 2021, showing the lasting impact the virus could have on society.

As part of the study, academic staff will work with long Covid patients to design methods of support personalised to specific needs. Alongside providing resources such as potential treatments and diagnostics, training for community practitioners will also be employed to deliver one-to-one support for patients.

The project will use the personal accounts of patients to develop materials such as blog posts and podcasts to investigate possible intervention strategies, which will be presented to patients and services in the form of clinical delivery.

Professor Niro Siriwardena, the University of Lincoln’s representative in this research, said: “Long Covid has been a worrying and unexpected outcome from the pandemic and is affecting many.

“We need to develop effective personalised approaches for people, affected in different ways by long Covid, to help themselves supported by professionals. This study will work with patients and healthcare staff to do just that and will evaluate how well the newly designed approach works and provides value for money.”

The research is expected to create peer reviewed publications and conference presentations on methods of intervention that, if effective, will be implemented nationwide.