Two Scotland-based long Covid charities have announced that they have quit the Scottish government’s Strategic Long Covid Network due to what they describe as “critical failures in communication, coordination and delivery.”
Long Covid Scotland and Long Covid Kids made the announcement earlier this week, saying in a joint statement that it had entered 2025 “with the welcome news” of an additional £4.5m funding from the Scottish government’s draft budget, which would be used to deliver support for those with long Covid, ME, chronic fatigue and similar conditions.
However, the charities criticised the funding promise as “a symbol of stalled progress” as the government is still reportedly “debating how to use the £4.5m in non-recurring, one-year funding” and neither the government nor National Services Scotland have reportedly communicated with the Strategic Long Covid Network on the funding’s future.
The charities added: “Despite sustained engagement via the Lived Experience Workstream, NSS and Scottish Government have failed to deliver on core network objectives.”
‘Core network objectives not delivered’
Among the undelivered core network objectives cited by the charities were a failure to respond to reports commissioned on long Covid and its effects; a failure to communicate with the public and a failure to align with the Strategic Long Covid Network milestones and monitoring.
The charities also criticised the government’s “failure to engage stakeholders” by reportedly disengaging many health boards from the Strategic Long Covid Network, which has also led to some unnamed third sector partners walking away.
Additional issues raised were a failure on the government’s part to recognise and work with lived experience, and a failure of transparency, with the government reportedly having failed to implement any public awareness measures of long Covid and similar conditions, despite the network’s “multiple requests to address with Public Health Scotland or Health Boards”.
The charities said: “The Scottish Government remains functionally absent from the network: no oversight, no leadership, and no enforcement of its own long Covid service policy requirements.”
They concluded by calling on the government to stage an urgent intervention “before services disappear entirely”.
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