What are the after effects of Coronavirus?
Right now, we don’t know, but thousands of people are still recovering and suffering chronic affects months after the virus has left their bodies.
Many patients who have recovered from the initial virus are still battling with ongoing health issues. These can range from difficulty swallowing and problems with their speech, to breathlessness and fatigue. Some patients are also struggling to cope with mental health issues associated with having the virus, including survivor guilt.
Addenbrooke’s has set up a number of clinics to specifically help patients address any ongoing health issues, one of the clinics is the Complex Covid Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) clinic for patients with complex needs who need to be seen by two or more specialities, such as a neurologist or a respiratory consultant. This is being held at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Clinical Research Facility (CRF) here on the hospital site.
Dr Rowan Burnstein, the clinical lead for critical care follow up, has helped set up the new “carousel” clinics which see patients spend half a day at the hospital, during which time they receive an x-ray, and are seen by pharmacists, respiratory consultants and/or neurologists, physiotherapists and intensive care consultants to help work through any ongoing issues.
Dr Burnstein added: “Before Covid, the hospital followed up all patients who have been in critical care. Around a fifth of the Covid patients have been in critical care, and most of these as well as many of the patients who were admitted to the hospital, now have complex needs. This multidisciplinary clinic has been set up specifically to make sure we are able to address their physical needs, such as breathlessness, nerve damage, fatigue and also any mental health issues they may have in a more holistic manner.”
We recently welcomed ITV News Health Editor, Emily Morgan to our CRF when she spent the day in Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
You can watch the news interview on Covid follow up care below.
To find out more go to ITV News here
