Salford patients first to use Long COVID app

People in Salford living with Long COVID are being supported with the help of a new mobile app and clinical website to track their recovery and improve their health.

A team from the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group (NCA), has been working with Salford City Council’s Health Improvement Service to support people suffering from persistent symptoms after contracting COVID-19.

Up until now the Salford team has been using the Covid-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale (C19-YRS) to aid diagnosis and assessment of Long COVID symptoms. This was initially being collated manually, with 24 patients being contacted each week since February.

Now Salford patients will be able to download an app onto their mobile device and update their progress at varying stages of their recovery, allowing their clinician to make any changes to their care management plan.

Programme manager Sarah Cannon said: “The app means information can now be sent electronically direct to the Long COVID Clinic Team, so they have information ahead of appointments. We can even decide on the length and type of appointments using the tool to match the needs of the patient.

“The tool will also help with reporting data required for long COVID at a national level.”

The app, developed by Elaros, in partnership with The University of Leeds NHS Trust, allows patients to self-report symptoms and the impact their symptoms are having on their daily health and wellbeing. NHS England and NHS Improvement have recommended use of the digital platform within national guidance for post-covid syndrome assessment clinics.

The app uses the latest scientific research and takes the patient through a series of questions to record their health status before contracting COVID, and what it is now. The information is displayed in radar plots and uploaded into the patient record.

Patients are asked to regularly update the app and over time it shows what progress they are making.

June Roberts, consultant nurse and associate director of transformation at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, said: “There had been very little digital development to support us dealing with Long COVID, so we were keen to get involved in this research project. The C19-YRS was a good approach to support our initial assessments of patients and gave us a good holistic view, but it was tiring for patients, so we started looking into the app.

“It’s great to have been involved in developing the app and our patients told us they wanted it too.”