Children with long COVID suffer years after infection with limited NHS support

A new report has highlighted the ongoing struggles of children with long COVID, who continue to experience symptoms years after their initial infection and feel abandoned by the NHS due to limited support. The report, based on interviews with families first met five years ago, reveals that many children remain housebound, disabled, and reliant on private medical care because the health service has been unable to provide effective treatment.

One case featured is Samir, now a 16-year-old who contracted long COVID as a child. He has been housebound for five years, unable to attend school full-time, and has had to take just two half-hour lessons at home each day. His father gave up work to become his full-time carer and renovated the downstairs of their home because Samir could not manage stairs. Despite managing to sit two GCSEs independently, Samir has received no NHS help and has relied on private care. His mother said: "A 16-year-old child who's been disabled for five years, and there is nothing on NHS, no service for him, I think that's just devastating."

Another child, Emily, now 14, was a hyperactive nine-year-old who loved dancing and drama before long COVID struck. She now uses a walking stick, suffers constant pain and fatigue, and has deteriorating eyesight that means she will probably never drive. She described feeling "on an island by myself on a different planet" because no one seems to understand her condition. A sleepover recently made her more unwell.

The Office for National Statistics stopped counting children with long COVID in 2024, but the last figures showed at least 111,000 affected. The charity Long COVID Kids has been working with the Department of Education and NHS England to improve support, but progress is described as slow and uneven, with a postcode lottery for services. Meanwhile, Germany has invested half a million euros in medical research into the illness, while many specialist clinics in the UK are being shut down.

In response to the report, the government said that any future pandemic response strategy should consider the risk of long-term symptoms arising from infection. The report concludes that after five years, there has been enough time to learn about long COVID and help those affected, but instead it feels like society is choosing to look the other way.