LOng COvid Multidisciplinary consortium: Optimising Treatments and servIces acrOss the NHS (LOCOMOTION)

Long Covid (LC) affects over one million people in the UK, it has various symptoms and impacts daily life. Although there are 83 LC clinics in England, most people have not had access to them, and have to wait long to be seen. We realise the urgency for LC patients to access prompt and appropriate care in clinics and doctors surgeries. Our research aims to produce a gold standard for care by analysing what is happening to patients now, creating new systems of care and evaluating them to establish best practice. Our proposal includes patients working as equal partners and has been developed with LC patients. Their key priorities are correct clinical assessment; advice and treatment; and help with returning to work and other roles. Our research is based on the experience of a wide range of NHS professionals already treating people in ten LC clinics across the UK, led by academics (universities) with links to other LC funded studies. The research will be in three places: LC clinics, at home (including self-monitoring on a mobile device using a set of questions on symptoms built into an app) and doctors surgeries. We will track where patients are being referred or not referred, and learn from the experience of clinics by interviewing patients and recording outcomes. Throughout, specialists in Healthcare Inequality will reach people who are not accessing clinics. We will put in place new processes in clinics and doctors surgeries, monitored throughout to make sure they are the correct standard, accessible for patients and staff, and cost-effective. Comparing findings across our partnership of ten LC Clinics we will learn more about treatment, providing real-time education to other healthcare staff and patients, and establishing a gold standard that can be shared within England and the rest of the UK.