What is the cost impact of demands due to Long COVID on NHS and social care services?

For the purposes of future resource planning in the NHS and social care there is a need to understand the cost implications of long COVID.  Long COVID is where persistent signs and symptoms of COVID-19 in adults and children continue for more than four weeks after an acute COVID-19 infection.

This review showed that there was limited evidence found of the cost impact of long COVID on the NHS:

• There is modelling that shows that quality adjusted life years (QALYs) are lost within 1 year of COVID-19 infection, most of which is due to COVID symptoms and to a lesser extent permanent injury, and within 10 years, by this time it is projected to be almost equally due to COVID symptoms and permanent injury.
• People with long COVID may be financially impacted by experiencing a loss of income, loss of money through not being able to complete activities and an increase in health expenses.
• Patient demand for long COVID health services is varied which will have a further impact on how care is provided and the cost effectiveness of that care.

This review found that there was no evidence found for the cost impact on social care services. 

There is a need for future research on the cost impact of demands due to long COVID on the NHS and social care services as currently the evidence is lacking.  This research should focus on economic modelling and evaluating the costs and benefits of services for patients with long COVID.

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Summary author: Alexandra Strong