A rapid “one-stop shop” to treat long Covid for about £1,500 is being offered by London’s biggest private hospital group.
An initial consultation at the Wellington Hospital, part of HCA UK group in St John’s Wood, costs about £200 to £250. Diagnostic tests and therapy sessions are likely to bring the average bill to about £1,500, depending on the severity of the condition.
The aim is for patients to be able to speak to a specialist within 48 hours — with the hope that early intervention can reduce the risk of symptoms becoming like ME and lasting for years.
Claire Dunsterville, director of rehabilitation at the Wellington, said: “It’s vital to have a multi-disciplinary hub. For patients with long Covid or long-standing symptoms, it could be their heart, it could be respiratory, it could be neurological ‘brain fog’. Our aim is to offer easy access to every specialist you might need.
“From diagnosis through to rehabilitation and discharge, we can do the lot.” This week the Standard revealed how one of the first NHS “long Covid” clinics set up to battle the syndrome, at University College London Hospital, had already treated 1,000 patients. About 60,000 people in the UK are estimated to have long Covid, where symptoms persist beyond three months.
One patient, a workaholic in his fifties, was treated for Covid by the NHS at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, and given “very little chance of survival” before he went to the Wellington.
Robin McNelis, clinical specialist physiotherapist, said: “They stopped him from dying, but he didn’t have much of a life. He came here. The last time I spoke to him, he had walked five kilometres round Regent’s Park.”
A plan is drawn up for patients, analysing fatigue levels, sleep disruption, diet and “sleep hygiene” — eliminating TV, iPads and smartphones. Breathing is checked — people may be using the “wrong” muscles, namely those in the chest. Speech therapists help with swallowing problems or a persistent cough. Neuropsychologists offer counselling.
Patients have access to a gym able to help people who have suffered a stroke as a consequence of Covid to re-learn how to move.
