By Lucy Ashton
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, RIGHT, today condemned the First Minister for neglecting long Covid care, following new figures published by the Office for National Statistics which estimate that 204,000 people in Scotland have self-reported long Covid.
The Scottish Government’s Long Covid Support Fund, created last September, is worth just £10m over three years. In contrast, the Spending Review, published in May this year, by the Scottish Government included £20m for holding an independence referendum.
Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling for:
- Specialist long Covid clinics in every health board;
- The training of long Covid community nurses to offer in-home support;
- Country-wide access to long Covid physiotherapy and multi-disciplinary rehab.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “204,000 Scots are suffering from long Covid, but when it comes to care and support their Government doesn’t seem to care very much.
“In the Health Secretary’s NHS winter planning statement this week, he made absolutely no mention of how he intends to support long Covid sufferers.
“The SNP and Greens have ignored their pleas for help and consistently neglected all those whose lives have thrown into disarray by the condition.
“The First Minister is devoting twice as much money to her efforts to break up the UK as she is to helping those people suffering long Covid. We need to see dedicated clinics across Scotland and a commitment to country-wide access to long Covid physiotherapy and multi-disciplinary rehab.”