Long COVID Community Rehabilitation

The Leeds Long COVID Community Rehabilitation Service is a partnership between Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust and The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. 

The service has been developed to help people in Leeds who are experiencing new, long lasting problems 12 weeks or more after a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection which are significantly impacting how they are able to function in day-to-day life.

The initial infection with COVID-19 can present with a wide range of different symptoms and severities and not everyone required hospital care or got a test.

The nature of long-lasting problems may be very wide ranging, and could include: fatigue, limited exercise tolerance, breathlessness, pains, anxiety, depression, brain fog/thinking problems, loss of appetite or weight, as well as other problems.

Our Multi-Disciplinary team consists of Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Dietitians and Rehabilitation Assistants, to provide rehabilitation for people in a clinic or home setting, using face to face and virtual consultations. The team are supported by consultants from The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust with specialities in rehabilitation medicine, cardiology, and respiratory medicine.

Referrals 

Referrals into this service are via GP, Neighbourhood Team or Community Respiratory Team.

To make a referral please follow the link to the online referral form.

Caring for a family member or a friend

If you have caring responsibilities for a family member/ friend, such as helping with finances, personal care and domestic tasks, we appreciate that this can be stressful at times. If you, or someone who is caring for you, would like some information or support please contact Carers Leeds Advice Line on 0113 380 4305 and have a look at www.carersleeds.org.uk.   

• QLeeds Long COVID Community Rehabilitation Service

  Our service was established in September 2020 to provide rehabilitation for people who are experiencing new, long lasting problems 12 weeks or more after a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection which are significantly impacting their daily life. This is also known as Long COVID.

  Common Long COVID symptoms include:

  Fatigue
  Headaches
  Shortness of breath
  Aches and Pain
  Poor concentration and memory problems (brain fog)

  Your GP is required to make the diagnosis of Long COVID after excluding other potential causes for your symptoms.

  This service provides a predominantly therapy-based approach to help with symptom self-management. As yet there are no drugs or medical treatments recommended specifically to treat Long COVID. There is ongoing research into this area but as this is a new condition this is the current national advice. With this approach we are generally seeing steady improvements in symptoms. Sometimes certain drugs can be helpful for specific symptoms, but this is generally not the mainstay of treatment.

  The team

  The team consists of Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Dietitians, Rehabilitation Assistants, Doctor and Psychological therapists. Should your symptoms require medical discussion our team is supported by medical specialists from Cardiology, Respiratory and Rehabilitation Medicine who they can discuss your symptoms with. Please note this is often to support safe rehabilitation or to exclude other potential underlying causes of symptoms that we may require your GP to further investigate.

  What can I expect next?

  You will receive a text to advise we have received your referral. When we have availability you will be sent an opt in letter requiring you to call the team and they will then send you questionnaires to complete as soon as possible as this is used to help us better understand your symptoms and establish how the team can support you. Once you have completed and returned the questionnaires, you will have an initial telephone contact with our triage team to discuss your Long COVID symptoms and the main problems you are experiencing as a result.

  Following this call, you may be offered an appointment at one of three clinics in Leeds (Chapeltown, Armley and Yeadon) in which a set of observations and measures are taken (i.e. blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels, plus some tests specific to Long COVID). You will then be offered another clinic appointment with a Therapist to complete an assessment and discuss your rehabilitation goals.

  If you are unable to attend a clinic appointment, we do offer home visits for housebound patients.
  We offer face to face, telephone or virtual appointments to suit your needs.

  We also run a group virtual symptom management programme. This provides both an education component and rehabilitation strategies for common Long COVID symptoms plus an opportunity to discuss your symptoms with other people with Long COVID.

  We aim to help and support you during this time and hope you will engage with us by putting the strategies taught by our therapists into place to enhance your recovery.

  Our team is closely linked with active research happening into Long COVID and we will offer you opportunities to be involved in research studies if you choose to.

  Whilst you are awaiting your initial telephone contact the following resources may be helpful and please liaise back with your GP should any urgent or new problems arise.

  Further support and information

  Overview of post COVID symptoms and self-management advice 

  www.yourcovidrecovery.nhs.uk

  Support for mental wellbeing:

  • Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service (LCH) - www.leedscommunityhealthcare.nhs.uk/our-services-a-z/leedsmental-
    wellbeing-service/home
  • Mindwell - www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk Tel: 0113 843 4388

  Free, confidential, impartial advice and support on a whole range of welfare benefits

  www.leeds.gov.uk/benefits/welfare-rights Tel: 0113 376 0452

  Citizens Advice to assist people with legal, debt, consumer, housing and other problems:

  www.citizensadviceleeds.org.uk Tel: 08082 787878

  Support for carers:

  If you have caring responsibilities for a family member/friend, such as helping with finances, personal care and domestic tasks, we appreciate that this can be stressful at times. If you, or someone who is caring for you, would like some information or support please contact Carers Leeds Advice Line on 0113 380 4305 and have a look at www.carersleeds.org.uk

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• QWhat is Long COVID?

  Common Long COVID symptoms include:

  Fatigue
  Headaches
  Shortness of breath
  Aches and Pain
  Poor concentration and memory problems (brain fog)

   

  The most common symptoms of Long COVID are:

  • Post COVID-19 syndrome is also called ‘long COVID’.
  • It describes the signs and symptoms that develop during or after an infection consistent with COVID-19, which carry on for more than 12 weeks and are not explained by a different diagnosis.
  • There are lots of symptoms that you may or may not experience with long COVID.

  How to get help

  Speak to your GP if you have any of these symptoms or you think you might have long COVID.

  Long COVID Community Rehabilitation service

  The Leeds Long COVID Community Rehabilitation provide rehab for people who have new, long lasting problems 12 weeks or more after a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection which are significantly impacting on their daily life.

  The service are a team of Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Dietitians, Rehabilitation assistants and Psychological therapies.

  The team are supported by consultants with specialities in rehab medicine, cardiology and respiratory medicine.

• QBecome a member of the Leeds Long Covid Involvement Group (Patient, Carer and Public Involvement Group)

  Interested in knowing more about the Leeds Long Covid Rehabilitation Service? Do you have ideas on how the service could be improved? Do you want to be involved with Long Covid research?

  What’s involved?

  • Help us improve the service.
  • Take part in surveys.
  • Help us develop communication and information for people with Long Covid and their carers/family.
  • Help us review service letters and leaflets.

  Why should you get involved?

  • Receive updates on Long Covid research, meet and hear from other people with Long Covid and receive newsletters and updates from your local Long Covid Team.
  • Opportunity to share your experience of Long Covid, to be involved with service improvement and research projects.
  • Help shape the future of the service!

  Be involved where you can, when you can

  Ask a member of the Long Covid Team or email lcht.longcovidrehab.research@nhs.net stating PCPI group.

• QResearch – LOCOMOTION Study

  Leeds Long COVID Community Rehabilitation Service are the lead NHS site for the LOCOMOTION study, which aims to create a ‘gold standard’ approach for the treatment of Long COVID. The study is identifying best practice in providing services, ensuring people are supported quickly and receive the right treatments from the right healthcare professionals, either in their own home, through their GP or at specialist Long COVID clinics.

  Patients from our service are participating in a variety of different workstreams across the study, which include qualitative interviews on various topics such as impact on employment, peer support, people’s experience of receiving care and rehabilitation under the post Covid service, as well as completing outcome measures and questionnaires on an app, and novel ways of monitoring and treating Long Covid such as wearing a Fitbit and heart rate monitor to capture the daily fluctuation of symptoms.

  Supporting the service’s involvement in the study is a Clinical Research Fellow who recruits participants, conducts research interviews, and links the clinical team to the Quality Improvement Collaborative taking place within the study, where the service can share and learn clinical best practice.

  Visit the LOCOMOTION website to find out more about the study or follow the study on Twitter @LOCOMOTIONstudy.

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