Displaying items by tag: long Covid

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact UK education, with schools managing increased special educational needs (SEN), exclusions, absenteeism, and a widening attainment gap. One primary school teacher reports a notable rise in speech, language, and social interaction difficulties among five and six-year-olds. She attributes this to the lockdowns, where children missed key developmental experiences. 'It's a daily battle’, she says. Cori Bateman, CEO of the Pioneer Learning Trust, confirms the post-2020 rise in additional needs has shifted teaching methods. Techniques once only  for individuals are now used class-wide, including sensory gadgets, breathing exercises, and emotion-based activities. Bateman insists this inclusivity doesn't disadvantage other pupils. Secondary schools face challenges too. One principal has noted a rise in exclusions and persistent absenteeism, with socio-economic disparities amplified during the pandemic. When pupils reflect on the disruption, Freya, 16, describes the isolation of online learning, while Max, 17, feels his year group was relatively fortunate. Sarah, 17, recalls remote education as overwhelming. Some experts warn of a widened attainment gap with effects until 2035. The Department for Education aims to prepare more children for school by age five.

Lucy suffers daily with chronic pain, vertigo, fatigue and brain fog. Before Covid she cycled daily. But three years after Covid she is on a hospital exercise bike wearing a mask to test respiratory and lung function, struggling to pedal. The Institute for Health Research said there is no treatment or drug to cure Long Covid. But there are clinics helping people to live with their symptoms. We know how to manage the many long-term debilitating conditions. There is a theory that some long Covid is an auto-immune condition, with the body attacking itself. 14-year-old Hayden caught Covid in December 2020, recovered after two weeks, then worsened until becoming bedridden. Hayden said, ‘Long Covid must be recognised more as a physical illness. When I was in hospital, doctors either couldn't diagnose it as Long Covid, or said it was all in my head and to stop making it up.’

Over two million British people have long Covid, yet almost three years into the pandemic there is still a struggle for them to be seen by specialist clinics, hampered by a lack of resources and research. Long Covid has symptoms that continue for over 12 weeks and are not explained by alternative diagnosis. Over a third of people with long Covid acquired it during the first Omicron wave. They suffer weakness, tiredness, difficulty concentrating, shortness of breath, muscle aches, pain, fatigue, brain fog, muscle twitching, sleep problems, and more. The British Medical Association has asked the Government to increase funding for long Covid clinics to deal with the ever-increasing patient numbers. NHS England's 2022 strategy, set out in July, failed to announce any new funding.

The Royal College of Nursing is urging the Government to increase investment in long Covid research after being warned that patients are suffering under a ‘postcode lottery’ in care. Some clinics treat long Covid as a physical condition, while other clinics treat it as psychological. Existing services are woefully inadequate to meet the level of demand. Latest official data estimates that two million people have said they are experiencing long Covid. There is also a need for nursing expertise to be used more widely to treat the condition. Where nursing staff are used in long Covid care, they play a pivotal role in managing patient care and treating chronic symptoms. Nursing staff see first-hand how life-limiting long Covid can be, especially when patients are suffering with complex chronic symptoms such as fatigue, joint pain, and brain fog. There are not enough specialist services to meet the growing demand, and the help patients get varies hugely across the country.