8 December 2022

The British Psychological Society (BPS) newsletter carries this report about the NWL Long Covid service (provided by West  London NHS Trust and CNWL).

The service works within acute and community-based MDT settings. The service conducts assessments and interventions to aid with the formulation, care and management of Long Covid with the aim of assisting patients with managing the psychological demands of their condition. NWL LCPS offers groups (symptom management: fatigue, brain fog, mindfulness), and one-to-one psychological treatment.  

The service is patient-centred, relying on an evidence-based, biopsychosocial understanding of the impact of Long Covid with patients, within an integrative perspective:

  •  Integration in attending to the physiological, and the emotional effects of LC, in formulation and in an embedded MDT approach
  • Integration in bringing people together - groups to enhance what was reported by service users to alleviate the isolation often experienced in LC (as in other long-term medical conditions)
  • Empowering the LC community: sharing trusted data, establishing platforms for discussion and peer support, and bridging the professional community and people with LC
  • Integration: supporting formulation of coherent narratives of potentially traumatic experiences, while attending to the practicality of adjustment, goals, and values-driven work

You can view Amiad and Katy's slides on the DCP website

The BPS says:

  • Evidence is accumulating that the risk of longer term health problems increases with the number of infections that people have
  • The latest ONS data indicates that 2.2 million people are suffering from Long Covid, 3.4 per cent of the population
  • In addition, there are reports of increased risks of cardiovascular and neurological disorders.
  • Around four million people across the age range are classed as clinically extremely vulnerable and research indicates that the majority are still leading very restricted lives in order to avoid infection, and some are still shielding
  • The impact on mental health and psychological wellbeing is variable across different parts of our population - Mind reported an increase in problems in people who were already having difficulties and the co-space study has a wealth of data on the impacts of children, young people and parents