Experiences of long COVID in Sussex Report
Healthwatch gather people’s views of health and social care services and make sure they are heard by the people in charge.
As part of a programme of activity to explore the ‘restoration and recovery’ of health and care services after the COVID-19 pandemic, the three Sussex Healthwatch (Brighton & Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex) sought to better understand the longer-term impacts of COVID-19 infections, including people’s experiences of support in managing ongoing symptoms and the wider impacts on their day-to-day lives.
We were particularly keen to learn about its impact on people’s everyday lives, their experiences of engaging with health and other support services and their views on what effective support for those with long COVID could or should look like.
Our aim and objectives
-
Identify how support for people with long COVID could be further developed and improved.
- Raise awareness of long COVID amongst the public, commissioners and practitioners through our research.
- Capture a snapshot of people’s experiences of Long COVID, including their symptoms and the impact these had on their lives.
- Understand how effective the current support offer for long COVID is in improving people’s quality of life to-date.
3 Key findings and themes
- Impacts of living with long COVID
- Experiences of health and care services
- Information and Support for long COVID
Experiences of the Post-Covid Assessment and Support Service (PCASS)
-
Support received via PCASS
- Effectiveness of PCASS support
- PCASS as a virtual service
- Changes or improvements to long COVID support
Conclusions
The findings from our interviews, broadly align with those identified from our phase one long COVID survey, identifying similar themes around the diagnosis, impacts and responses to long COVID.
