Long Covid Patient Groups Call for Urgent Reform Ahead of Landmark UK Covid-19 Inquiry Report | Press Release | March 2026
- Long Covid Kids
- 15 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Long Covid Kids, Long Covid SOS, Long Covid Physio and Long Covid Support issue their core demands ahead of the release of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 3 report today.
Due for release today Thursday 19th March, Module 3 of the Inquiry explored the
impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems across the four nations of the UK.
The groups, which together represent hundreds of thousands of Long Covid sufferers and their families, including many healthcare workers severely affected, say that the Module 3 report must make ambitious recommendations to address the ongoing and
systemic failures impacting at least 2 million adults and children with Long Covid
across the UK.
LONG COVID GROUPS PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - MARCH 2026
LONG COVID PATIENT GROUPS CALL FOR URGENT REFORM AHEAD OF LANDMARK COVID INQUIRY REPORT
The groups, which together represent hundreds of thousands of Long Covid sufferers and their families, including many healthcare workers severely affected, say that the Module 3 report must make ambitious recommendations to address the ongoing and
systemic failures impacting at least 2 million adults and children with Long Covid
across the UK.
AHEAD OF MODULE 3 THE GROUPS' DEMANDS IN FULL
In advance of the Module 3 report (due for release on Thursday 19 March), the groups’
demands are:
• Urgently review the current IPC guidance to recognise airborne transmission
• Immediate reinstatement of Covid-safe measures in all healthcare settings,
including FFP3 masks, improved ventilation and HEPA filtration
• An independent statutory body for clean air, to conduct reviews of ventilation in
public buildings, prioritising healthcare settings and schools within six months of
reports publication
• The UK Government should prescribe Long Covid as an occupational disease for
healthcare workers
• Immediate resumption of Covid surveillance by UKHSA and devolved health
authorities, in line with WHO guidance
• Ringfenced, dedicated funding for Long Covid services
• Equitable access to specialist, multidisciplinary Long Covid clinics for adults and
dedicated paediatric services across all four nations.
• NHS, in all 4 nations, in consultation with other stakeholders should prepare
clinical education materials on Long Covid, also including bespoke materials
about its presentation in children and young people
• NICE guidelines should be updated to include bespoke materials about its
presentation in children and young people
• A public health messaging campaign on the risks of Long Covid, including the
risks to children
• Clinicians, patients and parents should be informed about Long Covid in children
and young people through public health campaigns and clinical educational
material
• Renewed, adequately funded research into Long Covid, with paediatric Long
Covid as a priority
• Formalised mechanisms for patient advocates to participate in pandemic
planning
• The UK government and devolved administrations should monitor and study the
differential impact of Long Covid
• NHSE and all other health authorities ensure that Long Covid healthcare
addresses and overcomes new, and pre-existing healthcare and health
inequalities.
QUOTES
From a parent supporter of Long Covid Kids – who has had to give up a successful career
to look after their child:
‘’The government claims to want to get children back to school and adults back to work but is failing to consider the health impacts of the pandemic. I had to give up work to care full time for my son who is bed bound with Long Covid and M.E. and unable to access education or home healthcare. Germany is apparently investing €500 million in research, but the UK is closing all the long covid services, and our children remain largely unsupported and invisible!”
Jo Platt MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Long Covid, says:
“People living with Long Covid have shown extraordinary strength in the face of ongoing challenges, and their voices must be met with action. I hope the Inquiry’s findings highlight the need for greater awareness, stronger investment in research, and better care so that no one - patients, healthcare workers, or children - is left behind. In Parliament, I’m committed to driving coordinated action across Government, communities, researchers, educators and families so that people with Long Covid receive the support they need.”
Nicola Ritchie, an NHS physio who contracted Covid-19 at her workplace and
developed debilitating Long Covid resulting in her being unable to work:
“I was not provided with full PPE… I thought that because I was fit and healthy and I had recovered from other infections I had picked up at the hospital that I would recover quickly from Covid-19. To this day I have not seen any public health warnings about the risk of suffering persistent and life changing symptoms from Covid-19. It greatly concerns me that most people do not understand that they are at risk of losing their health and suffering long term harm from Covid-19.”
Natalie Rogers, a deputy head teacher who contracted Covid-19 whilst distributing free
school meals in March 2020 developed Long Covid resulting in her being unable to work:
“Long Covid has had a significant impact on my career. Prior to getting ill in March 2020,I was a healthy, successful school leader working in a fast-paced environment. In my view there is a risk that future pandemic emergencies will make the same mistakes unless urgent attention is paid to those who have suffered direct harm from SARS-CoV-2. It is an unhappy truth that people continue to contract Covid-19 and continue to develop Long Covid without adequate surveillance, mitigations, public health communications or treatment.”
FOR INTERVIEWS
The groups work with a range of relevant spokespeople who have suffered serious harm
from Covid-19, who can be contacted for comment.
Please contact each organisation for case studies and interviews.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Module 2, 2A, 2B, 2C report Core decision-making and political governance was
published on 20 November 2025. The Long Covid-specific findings are at paragraphs
1.51-1.52 and 8.23–8.31, 8.47 of that report.
WHAT THE MODULE 2 REPORT ALREADY CONFIRMED
The Module 2 report contains a series of specific findings on Long Covid that have not
received the public attention they deserve. The groups wish to place these on record as
the country approaches the Module 3 publication.
The Module 2 said that:
• Long Covid was foreseeable [8.23]
• Despite this initial planning took no account of Long Covid [para 8.23]
• The Inquiry recorded expert evidence that Long Covid poses an indiscriminate
risk, that is "anyone can develop Long Covid" [para 8.30].
• There were no public health campaigns for adults or children explaining those
risks
• The Inquiry found that there was sufficient information available by October 2020
for decision makers to understand that Long Covid was a significant policy and
health issue to be tackled [para 8.28].
• Despite this, the UK Government was slow to "acknowledge the seriousness and
prevalence of the condition and to direct that greater attention be paid to how it
could be addressed, mitigated and taken into account in decision making strategy
and the imposition of interventions" [para 8.28].
• The Inquiry found that in October 2020, Boris Johnson wrote "BOLLOCKS" on a
the NIHR summary note relating to Long Covid, and that he "was not convinced
that Long Covid truly existed" [para 8.28].
• Long Covid was one of four "major risks" of high prevalence in summer 2021
• Even when it was clear that there was a risk from Long Covid, there were no
public health campaigns focused on communicating the risks or the evolving
understanding of the syndrome [8.24]
• Without public health information, individuals were "unable to make their own fully
informed decisions about the levels of risk they were prepared to tolerate and the
risks posed to others around them" [para 8.25].• Public messaging about the incidence and existence of Long Covid would likely
have had a considerable positive impact on those experiencing it and perhaps on
those dismissive of symptoms [para 8.25].
• That the UK government should have acknowledged Long Covid and made the
risks clear in public health messaging [para 8.25].
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Module 2 report also contained two narrative recommendations on Long Covid:
• "The potential for long-term sequelae arising from infection and any developing
understanding should be communicated to the public in any future pandemic"*
[para 8.25]
• "In future pandemics, consideration of long-term sequelae must be built into any
strategy and supporting plans" [para 8.31]
These Module 2 findings confirm what Long Covid patients have lived through since 2020.
The groups have said previously that the Module 2 report (published on 20 November 2025) already confirmed what they have been saying for five years:
that Long Covid was foreseeable;
that the public was never properly warned;
that planning took no account of it;
and that the Government was slow to acknowledge it.
END
RECENT WORK BY LONG COVID KIDS
Over 1300 letters sent to politicians sent calling for support for children with Long Covid. Send your letter today.
Families, educators, clinicians and anyone who cares about children’s wellbeing are encouraged to take part and share the campaign.
The numbers with these post-infectious chronic illnesses has jumped from 250,000 to 1.35 million since Covid. Tessa Munt MP said;
“current estimates of the cost are upwards of £22 billion per year. Compared with other health conditions, that’s huge."
Help us keep the pressure on
Campaigning, policy work and awareness do not happen by accident.
They happen because supporters like you make them possible.
If you believe children cannot afford another year of inaction, please consider making a donation today, or becoming a regular supporter so we can sustain this fight for the long term.
Long Covid Kids, the first and longest-serving charity dedicated to raising awareness of Long Covid in children, says the response demonstrates growing concern among families and clinicians that children with the condition are still not adequately reflected in policy, data and support services.
A spokesperson for Long Covid Kids said:
"Children and young people living with Long Covid are too often missing from the data and from policy conversations, despite the very real impact the condition has on their lives. This campaign shows the strength of feeling across the UK that children must not be overlooked."
Learn more about Young People with Long Covid :
COVID Made Long
A dedicated group of peer collaborators and young people have been working alongside researchers to share their experiences, shape the direction of the project, and co-produce three resources that we are incredibly excited to now share with the world.
Three New Resources
Co-produced by young people affected by Long Covid.
A 3 part graphic series called ‘Long Covid Lives’ which highlights a range of experiences based on the lives of young people and their families living with Long Covid.
Long Covid: A Young Person’s Guide, which is an illustrated guide with practical information, case studies and tips and tricks about navigating Long Covid.
Living with Long Covid: A Young Person’s Glossary which helps to explain any medical terms used in the other resources. These are accompanied by descriptions from young people experiencing these symptoms.
Long Covid Kids and Friends is a UK-wide community representing children, young people and families affected by Long Covid and overlapping illnesses, including ME, PoTS, PANS and MCAS. We support 11,000 families whose children and young adults experience prolonged, fluctuating and often disabling symptoms following COVID-19 infection.
We are members of the Health Conditions In Schools Alliance and Overlapping Illness Alliance.
To read further blogs and information visit out website.
