Money pledged by the government specifically for long COVID care: FOI release

Information requested

The amount of money pledged by the government specifically for long COVID care in Scotland for 2023/24. You have highlighted that by 'long COVID care' you mean money pledged specifically for treatment of, support for, or research into, long COVID.

Response

We are making available £3 million from our £10 million long COVID Support Fund over this financial year (2023-24) to support NHS boards to increase the capacity of existing services supporting those with the condition, develop these into more clearly defined local pathways and provide a more coordinated experience for those accessing support.

In addition, the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) awarded grant funding for research projects on long COVID in 2021 and in 2023. Information about these research projects can be accessed at: https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/cso-funded-research/long-covid-call/ and Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research Committee 2022 – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk).

The durations of these long COVID research projects span a number of financial years. The total funding that CSO expects to issue to support these research projects in 2023-24 to the institutions leading the projects is about £0.5 million.

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