Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this important issue. Long Covid has been called a hidden iceberg of long-term illness, yet the HSE has been slow to acknowledge the condition or provide clear care pathways, which could have serious long-term implications for those with the condition, as well as for our health service more generally and for our economy. Various studies give different incidence rates of long Covid. A research paper produced by the Oireachtas Library and Research Service, at my request, estimates that the number of people in Ireland who have had Covid-19 and are experiencing or will experience long Covid is at a minimum of 114,500, and growing, with the continued rate of infection.

The World Health Organization definition of long Covid is where symptoms persist for more than three months from the onset of the initial Covid-19 infection, lasting for at least two months, when they cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. In general, those with the condition are impacted in their everyday functioning, with symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction. These effects appear to occur irrespective of the initial severity of the infection, but occur more frequently in women, the middle-aged, and those with more serious symptoms initially. I estimate that if all 114,500 people claim Covid illness benefit, and subsequently claim illness benefit for the minimum five-month duration as specified by the World Health Organization definition, this would cost the Department of Social Protection €925 million. This figure does not include health costs, nor does it take into account the reduction or loss of productivity and absenteeism, never mind the financial and personal impact it has on those with chronic conditions associated with long Covid.

Sadly, in-depth searches of the HSE website and a variety of HSE documents do not identify any sources quantifying or indicating the nature or scale of the impact of long Covid on our health service. This could be a sleeping crisis that may overwhelm the already horrendous waiting lists in our health service.

The HSE stated last September that it planned to establish specialist long Covid clinics. As of today, only a model of care for long Covid has been agreed, with the HSE now starting to implement it. The HSE has stated that a variety of disciplines will need to be recruited to support these clinics. As a result, they have no idea when long Covid clinics will become fully operational. Here is the sting in the tail. It is only after these become operational that pathways to and from general practitioners and community services will be established, even though the majority of people with long Covid will have to rely on their GP to access the service initially. This slow rate of action is in stark contrast to dealing with primary Covid infection.

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