Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. He has really hit on something interesting. The long Covid service remains relatively new and work is ongoing to further establish, resource and embed these clinics. However, he is quite right in what he has said. This is new. Covid was new to us in 2020, 2021 and 2022. We now all know people who have long Covid symptoms. It is important that there are supports for them. Service development and planning is ongoing and recruitment into established clinics continues. As I said, the HSE has undertaken that survey. It has also launched a FADA survey to help to increase its understanding of how people are recovering from prolonged symptoms of Covid-19. The purpose of the survey is to estimate the prevalence of self-reported long Covid, to estimate the severity and nature of the symptoms among those identified as having long Covid and their impact and to inform the planning of the HSE long Covid model of care, which is an important piece.

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