COVID-19 affects everyone differently. Most people recover quickly, but some take longer. You don’t have to be seriously ill with COVID or be hospitalized to develop Long COVID, and symptoms can come and go or linger for weeks or months after your initial infection has resolved.

If you’re in the U.K. and think you have Long COVID, the Department of Health and Social Care offers a number of resources to help you cope and recover. Multiple other organizations can assist with a variety of needs, as well. Here are a few.*

What does Long COVID look like?

Long COVID describes a range of possible symptoms, the most common including:

• Fatigue (extreme tiredness)
• Breathlessness
• Lack of smell
• Aching muscles

Other possible symptoms include, for example:

• Impaired memory and concentration (“brain fog”)
• Chest pain or tightness
• Rapid heart rate
• Joint pain
• Gastrointestinal issues
• Depression and anxiety

The National Health Service (NHS) advises contacting your general practitioner for symptoms lasting four or more weeks after COVID-19, or suspected COVID-19.

The online assessment tool My Long COVID Needs, which can be completed in about 5-10 minutes, can help you to explain your symptoms to your doctor, who can then recommend next steps.

If you’ve had COVID, the NHS offers Your COVID Recovery to help you make sense of what’s happened, what the recovery process may look like, and available support.

Employment and educational resources for people with Long COVID

If you can’t work because of Long COVID, help is available.

• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) may be possible if you already have a job.
• Universal Credit may be an option If ineligible for SSP or your SSP expires.
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) offers money to assist with living expenses while out of work and support to help return to work if you can. ESA is for people employed, self-employed, or unemployed.
• Personal Independence Payment can also help with living expenses if you have functionality or mobility problems from Long COVID.

Further, people in the U.K. can have social services assess their health and social care needs for things like healthcare equipment or living assistance.

Multiple resources are also available if you need help finding, returning to, or staying at your job.

• JobHelp and Access to Work offer job-seeking support, training, and advice.

Both workers and employers can find guidance for returning to work from the Society of Occupational Medicine and the Advisory, Conciliatory, and Arbitration Service (ACAS). The ACAS can help with areas such as:

• Returning to work
• Managing health issues at work
• Dealing with work absence due to Long COVID

GOV.UK can help you make reasonable workplace adjustments as you recover. (You can also show your My Long COVID needs assessment results to your employer to help them better understand your situation.)

Regarding children with Long COVID, all academic institutions (schools, colleges, etc.) must support students with medical issues. The parent or healthcare provider should inform the school of the child’s needs.

Advocating for people with Long COVID

NHS England is another resource for more information on Long COVID, including a list of 90 organizations offering post-COVID assessment and care. Working with the NHS to effect policy change are two U.K.-based patient advocacy groups.

• Long Covid Support is a registered U.K. charity started by people struggling with Long COVID. Their work covers three areas:
  • Peer support for Long COVID patients and carers 
  • Advocacy, and
  • Research

Since May 2020, Long Covid Support has been campaigning hard for Long COVID recognition, rehabilitation, and treatment research.

• Long Covid SOS is also patient-led and focused on Long COVID recognition, rehabilitation, and research. Since July 2020, the organization has been advocating for:
  • Understanding patient needs,
  • Promoting urgently needed research,
  • Empowering clinicians,
  • Establishing post-COVID clinics, and
  • Providing financial and workplace support.

“There’s nobody who knows more about Long COVID than those who suffer from it, which is the foundation of Long COVID SOS,” says patron Emma Samms. “They have consistently kept ahead of the science, and been a source of comfort to thousands of sufferers.”

*Department of Health and Social Care. (2021, December 24). Find help and support if you have long COVID. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-help-and-support-if-you-have-long-covid