The Long Covid project involved people, communities and voluntary organisations in shaping and developing the support offer for people with Long Covid in Sheffield.
We explored people’s experiences of Long Covid and developed a programme to understand the barriers affecting those who are currently under-represented in Long Covid services, particularly those from our ethnically diverse communities as well as those with lower socio-economic means.
This joint project with Healthwatch Sheffield was funded by the Integrated Care Board and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, helping people’s experiences have a direct impact on how services for people with Long Covid are run.
We did 21 in-depth interviews with people living with Long Covid and their carers, to help us understand their experiences. These interviews helped us bring people’s stories to life for those planning and delivering Long Covid support services.
Our community grants programme worked with 15 community organisations and consulted with 440 people from backgrounds who were under-represented in Long Covid services. These conversations highlighted what gaps and barriers existed for people. Further rounds of funding helped the organisations to produce a total of 21 information resources about Long Covid in a variety of formats and languages, and deliver them to around 20,000 people living in Sheffield.
We also delivered and supported community information sessions and events to develop people’s understanding and challenge misinformation about the condition.
As a result of this project:
- People with Long Covid and their carers now have access to more information, resources and networks to support them to get the help they need
- The experiences of people with Long Covid are now at the centre of influencing the future care and support offer
- Statutory and voluntary sector services in Sheffield are connected in a shared understanding of the needs and barriers that people with Long Covid experience.
For any queries about this project, please contact n.munoz@test.vas.org.uk
Key Information
The project is now finished, but it has ongoing resources available to people in Sheffield
- A long Covid Network for people with lived experience of Long Covid and their carers to continue to be able to use their voice to effect changes to services and support
The network meets once a month and can be contacted at: info@sheffieldmegroup.co.uk
- 21 culturally appropriate resources about Long Covid in a variety of formats and languages. These are all free to download and can be found here.
- Our report with the findings of the project contains a number of local and national recommendations for decision-makers to better support people with Long Covid. View and download here.