Specialist long covid service for young people to be set up in Cambridge

Cambridge University Hospitals is to get specialist Long Covid services for young people Credit: ITV Anglia

A specialist service for children with Long Covid is being set up by the NHS at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

It's part of a £100 million expansion that will see fifteen hubs around the country focusing on treatment and rehab services for young people.

The hubs will draw together experts on common symptoms such as respiratory problems and fatigue who can directly treat youngsters, advise family doctors or others caring for them or refer them into other specialist services and clinics.

Some £30 million will also go to GPs to improve diagnosis and care for those with Long Covid while the new investment will also boost online services.



Sir Simon Stevens will set out the plan to deal with the Covid 'legacy' at the annual NHS Confederation conference which starts today (15th June).


  • More than one million people have reported suffering from Long Covid, according to the Office for National Statistics.

  • Symptoms include: shortness of breath and extreme fatigue with almost a third of sufferers saying it has a significant impact on their daily life.


While the majority of children and young people are not severely affected by Covid, ONS data has shown that: 7.4% of children aged 2-11 and 8.2% of those aged 12-16 report continued symptoms.

There is already a network of specialist Long Covid clinics which have been given £34 million of funding. Some £70 million of the new investment will extend these clinics and set up the paediatric hubs.



The hub at Addenbrooke's Hospital is the only one to be set up in the East of England. The other locations are:

  • The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NuTH)

  • South Tees NHS Foundation Trust (James Cook University Hospital)

  • Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust  

  • Leeds Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

  • Hull University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

  • Alder hey

  • Manchester Childrens hospital

  • Birmingham and Solihull Birmingham Women's and Children's NHSFT

  • Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland University Hospital Leicester NHST

  • Bristol Children's hospital

  • Oxford University Hospitals

  • Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth

  • University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

  • London hub led by the Evelina, Imperial, UCLH and GOSH