Long Covid campaigners send open letter to Health Secretary
More than 13,000 people have signed a petition calling for urgent investment in Long Covid and chronic fatigue services - highlighting the need to fund research that leads to effective treatments.
The petition has been delivered alongside an open letter signed by organisations, charities, and clinicians - including Dorset-based charity Long Covid Kids (LCK) - to Health Secretary Wes Streeting MP and Public Health Minister Ashley Dalton MP,
READ: Weymouth Long Covid campaigner hits out at clinic closures
The letter urges the government to take immediate action, including halting further clinic closures and highlights growing concerns around underfunding, lack of training for healthcare professionals, and the continued unmet health needs of children and adults living with Long Covid, M.E., PoTS, and other related conditions.
Campaigners also want to see a long-term strategy to fund biomedical research, treatment, and monitor the wider impact of Long Covid and M.E., informed by lived experience.
READ: Funding for Dorset-based Long Covid services to be cut
Their call comes as the UK reflects on the five-year anniversary of the first national Covid-19 lockdown and the axing of Long Covid services - including the Dorset service - which closes at the end of June.
A new report by LCK also revealed alarming gaps in Long Covid care, with the charity's founder, Sammie McFarland, from Weymouth, calling for the closures to clinics to 'stop immediately'.
Sammie set up LCK in 2020 after she and her daughter Kitty developed Long Covid.
She said: 'Long Covid is not going away, and neither are the children and adults who live with its effects - we need to monitor the wider impact.
'We're calling for urgent action to stop clinic closures, invest in biomedical research, and train healthcare professionals. Our young people are saying loud and clear: we want to be seen, heard, and supported.'
Alongside the petition and open letter to government officials, children and young people affected by Long Covid have released a powerful video titled 'Don't Shut the Door on Us, which is now live across X, Instagram, and YouTube.
READ: Weymouth mother develops resource for kids with long Covid
In the short film, young people hold up hand-written signs describing the reality of living with the condition before dropping them to the floor - a quiet but striking call for recognition, care, and action.
Molly, 16, who lives in Weymouth says she feels 'abandoned and hidden from view' after the announcement of the closure of the Dorset Long Covid service.
She said: "I'm in my GCSE year, but I can't even go to school. I've lost the ability to do the things normal teenagers do, and there's no real support or treatment.
"Thousands of children like me are suffering in silence - we need research, we need help, and we need to be seen."
Kitty McFarland, 19, has been living with Long Covid since 2020 (Image: Sammie McFarland) Sammie's daughter, Kitty, who now needs to use a wheelchair due to the symptoms brought on by Long Covid expressed her gratitude for LCK and how important the charity is, especially now NHS services are closing.
She said: "If long covid kids didn't exist, doctors would still believe only adults could get long covid, we are all incredibly grateful that the charity was created to educated others as no one else believed us."
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