Extra clinics in Jersey for long Covid

There is no agreed definition of long Covid and main symptoms vary from person to person

Doctors in Jersey are putting on extra clinics for patients who need help for long Covid.

A dedicated service opened in February and currently has waiting times of about six to eight weeks.

Long Covid refers to people having long-term problems after recovering from an original coronavirus infection, even if they were not very ill in the first place.

Dr Matt Doyle said medical staff were working to help people who had its "hugely debilitating" symptoms.

'Very unpleasant'

Clinic staff said they had already seen more than 40 people, and about 100 had been referred to them by GPs.

Fatigue, insomnia, dizziness, loss of smell and taste are some of the symptoms people in Jersey have been reporting.

Dr Doyle said: "Ideally we would never have a waiting time, but we have, and we've put on extra clinics to try and speed that up.

"Things like loss of smell and taste, if they are persisting, that can be hugely debilitating.

"Not knowing how much salt to put on your boiled egg because you can't taste it is a very strange position to be in, and it's very upsetting and very unpleasant."

Long Covid is not fully understood, and there is no internationally-agreed definition; so estimates of how common it is, or what the main symptoms are, vary.

In the UK, its Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated about 1.5 million people had the condition.

Currently there are no proven drug treatments, with the main focus on managing symptoms and gradually increasing activity where possible.

Studies on how best to improve the lives of people with long Covid are continuing.