Covid-19

Delivery of the Covid-19 vaccination programme remains a key priority for all health and care services. Vaccination is the best protection against becoming seriously ill from the virus. More than 3 million jabs have been delivered in South West London since the launch of the biggest vaccination programme in the NHS’ history in December 2020.

As well as the vaccination programme, our focus is on testing and rolling out new treatments for people who become infected, and on helping people who are still suffering with the effects of Covid-19. Over 1 million people in England are living with Long Covid. Long Covid symptoms are wide ranging and can come and go. They include severe fatigue, breathlessness, headaches, muscle aches, brain fog, heart rate changes, depression and anxiety. Building on the work we have already done to assess, diagnose and help people recover from Long Covid is a key priority in South West London.

How are we doing it?

In 2022/23 our priorities are:

Increasing services for people who have had Covid

We are improving access to our post-Covid clinics, increasing the number of patients referred to the clinics and seen within six weeks of referral. These clinics assess, diagnose and help people recover, with specialist paediatric hubs providing expert advice to services treating children and young people.

This will reduce the number of patients waiting longer than 15 weeks to enable their timely placement on an appropriate management or rehabilitation pathway.

Providing Covid-19 vaccinations

We are continuing to make the Covid-19 vaccinations available everybody in South West London, and making sure that the infrastructure that has been so important to the success of the vaccination programme is maintained.

For those who haven’t yet had their first, second or booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine yet, our clinic doors are always open. If you are unsure about getting vaccinated or worried about side effects, needles or just uncertain about which vaccine you will receive, you can get the answers to all your questions at one of our local vaccination sites in South West London with no pressure to get the jab. Nurses, pharmacists and other clinical staff are on hand to talk through any issues away from the main vaccinating area.

Introducing new treatments

We are rolling out a number of new treatment options, including neutralising monoclonal antibodies and oral antivirals. These treatments are now available for non-hospitalised NHS patients at greater risk from Covid-19. These treatments are in addition to Covid-19 vaccines, which remain the most important intervention for protecting people from COVID-19 infection. These new treatments, which reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death, are being rolled out initially for a targeted cohort of highest-risk patients.