Learning from long COVID: integrated care for multiple long-term conditions

Long COVID is a multisystem condition requiring a range of medical, therapeutic, and psychological inputs. Given the complexity of the illness affecting multiple organ systems, often impacting physical and mental health, individuals can be heavy healthcare users across primary, secondary, and emergency services.

The long COVID clinics commissioned in England have provided an opportunity to innovate within a complex care pathway, bringing multiple providers together to meet needs broader than has been historically possible for many other complex conditions. Designing these new services from a blank page has enabled teams to co-create services with patient groups and work more effectively in an integrated way. Significant benefits have been seen, including skills transference between professions.