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Children with Long Covid and ME/CFS worsen as parents struggle for NHS care

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Summary

  • An 18-year-old from Weymouth, Dorset, ill with Long Covid since 2021, reports worsening fatigue, pain, and reliance on a wheelchair.
  • The Dorset children's post-Covid clinic closed in November 2023, and families say the NHS is not helping and turn to private clinics or treatment abroad.
  • A German news magazine gathered reportages on ME/CFS and Covid late effects in children, including parents caring for their light-intolerant daughter in darkness.
  • The charity Long Covid Kids estimates thousands of children are affected, says it has supported 11,000 families, and says there is no effective treatment.
  • The Department of Health and Social Care says it is funding children's Long Covid research, including the £1.9 million CLoCk study.

Reactions

  • Molly Foden says she suffers dizziness, severe fatigue, and pain, and spent more than two months in hospital where staff did not know what was wrong.
  • Her mother Laura says finding help is a battle against a health service that works in silos and does not communicate.
  • Parents of affected children say there is no ring-fenced funding, no clinician training, and no national approach, and call on the government to fund more research.
  • NHS Dorset says there is no dedicated post-Covid service for children and referrals run through local paediatric services.
  • A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson says the department recognises Long Covid's impact and that local NHS services and GP referrals should support patients.

Timeline newest first

  1. A German news magazine published a topic page gathering video reportages, an interview, and articles on ME/CFS and Covid late effects in children, including care of a light-intolerant daughter in darkness.
  2. Molly Foden, 18, from Weymouth, Dorset, said her Long Covid has worsened in the past year, leaving her fatigued, in pain, and often reliant on a wheelchair.
  3. Molly Foden said she spent more than two months in hospital with stomach trouble and sickness, and no one knew what was wrong with her.
  4. Molly Foden said many NHS services have turned her down as too complex, and she pays for care at a private clinic in Liverpool.
  5. Parents of children with Long Covid said some young people have been discharged from NHS care and told nothing more can be offered, and some take children to costly private clinics or abroad, one to Beijing.
  6. The Dorset Post Covid Syndrome Service closed for children in November 2023, leaving Molly Foden struggling to get help for Long Covid.
  7. Molly Foden first caught Covid in September 2021, after sports including swimming, hockey, and surf lifesaving played a central role in her life.

Sources newest first

  • ME/CFS bei Kindern: Wie schwer die Krankheit das Leben verändertspiegel.de· 16h

    DER SPIEGEL's topic page on ME/CFS in children gathers video reportages, an interview, and articles on the illness and Covid late effects, including an interview about parents caring for their light-intolerant daughter in darkness and pieces by Birgit Großekathöfer, Nina Weber, and Anna Weiß.

  • Dorset teenager with Long Covid says her health is getting worsebbc.com· 2d

    A BBC report follows Molly Foden, an 18-year-old from Weymouth, Dorset who caught Covid in September 2021, saying her Long Covid has worsened — leaving her fatigued, often reliant on a wheelchair, out of school, and turned away from NHS services since the children's Dorset clinic closed in November 2023. The article also reports parents of children with Long Covid saying the NHS is not helping them, with some turning to costly private clinics or even Beijing, while the Department of Health and Social Care says it is funding research including the £1.9 million CLoCk study.

Background newest first

  • Chronic Fatigue Was Neglected for Decades. Then Came Covidbloomberg.com· 8d

    Jason Gale's Bloomberg Weekend article traces how medicine neglected myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome for decades, following Utah doctor Lucinda Bateman, who took on the patients other physicians rejected after her sister Shauna fell ill with the condition. It says long Covid brought ME/CFS research money, scientists, and attention — including studies finding muscle damage after exertion and immune-targeting drug trials — though no cure has emerged, while Bateman advises the NIH's $1.8 billion Recover initiative and warns that pushing patients to exercise can make them sicker.