Long COVID

Our post-COVID multi-disciplinary team (MDT) is made up of one consultant in respiratory medicine, a specialist respiratory nurse, a specialist respiratory physiotherapist, a consultant clinical psychologist, and two senior occupational therapists.

How can our team help?

After referral, a psychologist will meet individually with the patient. This can be done face to face, via a video link, or over the phone. This sessions is an opportunity to discuss the impact of COVID and long COVID and to choose support to manage emotional wellbeing.

Depending on the patient's answers, the psychologist may use a combination of compassion focused therapy, relaxation and/or mindfulness techniques, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and treatments for post traumatic stress disorder, including eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy (EMDR).

Patients are also welcome to attend a monthly virtual peer support group and hear from others about their experiences with long COVID and the strategies they've found helpful to manage.

Why is psychology an important part of our long COVID service?

As a team, we have seen that people living with long COVID can experience a number of symptoms, including chronic fatigue, pain, and cognitive difficulties such as memory and word finding difficulties. These symptoms impact emotional wellbeing and some people experience symptoms of anxiety or low mood as a result. People who were hospitalised with COVID may experience post traumatic symptoms, such as flashbacks of being in hospital or being hypervigilant to possible dangers. Some people also experience feelings of survivor guilt. It can take time to adjust to living with the impact of long COVID symptoms.

Sometimes, long COVID is an 'invisible illness' that you cannot physically see the symptoms of. This does not mean those symptoms aren't real. This can make it harder for people who haven't previously experienced these symptoms, such as a patient's friends and family, to understand how debilitating the symptoms can be.