Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the outcomes of the £10 million that it designated in 2023-24 to support people with long COVID, including how this was spent.
The Scottish Government’s £10 million long COVID Support Fund was announced in September 2021 and resource has been allocated from the fund from the financial year 2022-2023 onwards. The following table provides an overview of funding recipients from the start of the financial year 2022-23 to 28 February 2025. Allocations to NHS boards are made in tranches across the financial year to account for any slippage in programme delivery. It is anticipated that further allocations will be made to NHS boards from the fund before the end of this financial year, and in the financial year 2025-26.
The 2025-2026 budget outlines £7.586 million for the ‘Long Covid, ME, Chronic Fatigue and other similar conditions’ budget line. This represents a £4.5m uplift to the 2024-2025 long COVID budget line.
Organisation | Purpose | Funding allocated 2022-2023 | Funding allocated 2023-2024 | Funding allocated 2024-2025 (as of 28 Feb 2025) |
NHS Ayrshire and Arran | Assist provision of healthcare support to people with long-term effects of COVID-19. | £131,288 | £143,152 | £131,288 |
NHS Borders | £35,509 | £50,727 | £38,319 | |
NHS Dumfries and Galloway | £55,598 | £55,598 | £55,598 | |
NHS Fife | £124,636 | £124,636 | 124,636 | |
NHS Forth Valley | £99,414 | £133,896 | £99,414 | |
NHS Grampian | £178,393 | £254,847 | £178,393 | |
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde | £416,618 | £583,446 | £416,618 | |
NHS Highland | £83,749 | £167,586 | £117,310 | |
NHS Lanarkshire | £320,007 | £320,007 | £224,005 | |
NHS Lothian | £260,551 | £378,412 | £268,168 | |
NHS Orkney | £14,716 | £14,716 | £10,301 | |
NHS Shetland | £9,573 | £9,573 | £9,573 | |
NHS Tayside | £194,620 | £194,620 | £138,330 | |
NHS Western Isles | £19,988 | £19,988 | £13,992 | |
NHS National Services Scotland | Operation of National Strategic Network for long COVID. | £101,498 | £180,916 | £126,641 |
NHS National Services Scotland | Procurement of C-19 YRS digital tool. | 0 | 0 | £124,781 |
NHS National Services Scotland | Clinical safety assessment of C-19 YRS digital tool. | 0 | £49,728 | 0 |
NHS National Services Scotland | Evaluation of data gathered through C-19 YRS digital tool. | 0 | £62,500 | 0 |
Smarts | Production and editing of NHS inform case study videos. | £5,112 | £5,676 | |
Progressive Partnership | Recruitment of participants for NHS inform user experience research and case study videos. | £9,450 | ||
Leith Agency | Development of creative brief and options for potential marketing campaign | £9,174 | ||
Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland | Integration of long COVID support application within Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s case management system. | £28,904 | ||
Covid Aid | Delivery of long COVID advertising and signposting activity, development of mobile phone application for Covid Aid Support Community, delivery of Covid Aid/ Let’s Get on With it Together (LGOWIT) Self-Management Programme, development of online support community for people with long COVID | £144,095 | ||
Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland | Delivery of long COVID Support Groups within Glasgow City and West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership areas. | £13,345 | ||
Long Covid Scotland | Investment in systems and equipment required to widen organisation’s impact. Administrative capacity to support development of educational resources. | £25,000 | ||
Scottish Ballet | Delivery of the ‘Emerge’ programme. | £3,035 | ||
Scottish Opera | Expanding course capacity on the ‘Breathe Cycle II’ project. | £86,892 | ||
Thistle Foundation | Delivery of a ‘Good Conversations’ training programme for healthcare staff and expansion of national Self-Management and Rehabilitation programme. | £106,343 | ||
Total | £2,477,508 | £2,750,024 | £2,077,367 |
An analysis of Patient Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) data provided by 701 patients accessing NHS long COVID support showed they reported that they got somewhat better in symptoms and abilities over the first six months. Despite improvements, many reported that they still had major health issues compared to before having COVID.
The report notes that long COVID can be a fluctuating condition, meaning there is not necessarily a linear trend of improvement or deterioration in the symptom burden, functional disability, and overall health of patients. Therefore, care needs to be taken in drawing any conclusions changes in PROM scores, particularly when over a short space of time. The full report is accessible at NHS Scotland Service Evaluation of Long-COVID Services – Long COVID.