Long Covid Ruins Four Times as Many Scottish Lives as Drugs - Why Does it Only Get a Fraction of the Funding?
Scotland spends over £1,000 a year per addict, but only £11.40 a year per Long Covid Patient.
With 1,172 drug deaths in 20231 and an estimated 43,400 addicts,2 Scotland faced a devastating public health crisis. The Scottish Government responded by committing an extra £250 million over five years to tackle the 'drug emergency'3: a proportional and welcome response. But what happens when the emergency is Long Covid?
It's estimated over 180,000 Scots are living with Long Covid,4 many of them disabled, unable to work, and lacking adequate medical support. Yet the Scottish Government allocated just £10 million5 over five years to address this ongoing emergency. It hasn't spent the full amount,6 and now future funding is uncertain.
Following International Long Covid Awareness Day on March 15th, the Scottish Government acknowledged that Long Covid continues to affect lives. But words are not enough. What people living with Long Covid need and deserve are promises kept, timelines expedited, and ministers with the political competence to meet the scale of the crisis.
The Scottish Government's rhetoric is that Covid is over. How can Covid be over when, since March 2024, 831 people have died from Covid in Scotland?7 That's more than two deaths a day. Covid certainly isn't over for the 180,000 Scots still sick or their carers, parents, teachers, employers and family.
Health Secretary Neil Gray's recent comments suggest he recognises the problem but fails to address the reality. We are told there has been investment - but not why so many people still struggle to access care in Scotland's post-code lottery. We are told the Government is "always willing to consider" classifying Long Covid as an occupational illness - but not why they haven't already done so. The BMA has been calling for it to be recognised since 2021 - by that time Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, and Spain had already recognised it,8 Yet Scottish frontline workers whose lives have been ruined while serving others remain unrecognised. Many Scots disabled by Long Covid are receiving no meaningful support at all.9
Young people who developed Long Covid while in education who have been unable to complete their qualifications or enter the workforce are effectively invisible in the Government's economic data; they are not counted as an increase in the 'economically inactive' simply because they were studying, not working, when they became ill.10 The same applies to anyone who became ill while unemployed and has not returned to work. The true cost of Long Covid to our country, both human and economic, is being wilfully underestimated.
Scotland's drug death crisis, the worst in Europe,11 quite rightly makes headlines and prompts policy shifts. In 2021, the Scottish Government announced a "national mission" to tackle drug deaths, with then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon calling it:
"a national disgrace… It is a reasonable criticism to say that this Government should have done more earlier… I am determined that we will provide this national mission with the leadership, focus, and resources that it needs."
Nicola Sturgeon to Scottish Parliament, 20 January 2021
I agree. But when Covid deaths are still reaching similar levels, and Long Covid is destroying four times as many lives, why is the response so muted, fragmented, and underfunded?
Is Scottish government support for public health emergencies only ever proportional to negative headlines?
If Scotland has the compassion and political will to react urgently to one public health emergency, we can do the same for another. Scots affected by Long Covid are not just statistics. They are children, teachers, parents, nurses, and workers. Also impacted are their family, carers, partners and employers.
When faced with one public health crisis impacting 43,300 Scots, the Scottish Government responded with a 'Tsar', a task force and £250 Million: and credit where it's due, while numbers remain high they have fallen.12
So it's long past time we had a Long Covid Tsar, leading a national Long Covid Taskforce, with commensurate funding.
Long Covid is ruining Scottish lives. To paraphrase Nicola Sturgeon, the lack of urgency is a national disgrace. The Scottish Government should have done much more, much earlier. Will John Swinney now provide the leadership, focus, and resources this crisis demands?
References
National Records of Scotland. (2024, July 16). Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2023. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland-in-2023/
Public Health Scotland. (2024, February 6). Estimated prevalence of opioid dependence in Scotland: 2014/15 to 2022/23. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/estimated-prevalence-of-opioid-dependence-in-scotland/estimated-prevalence-of-opioid-dependence-in-scotland-201415-to-202223/
Scottish Government. (2021, January 20). More than £250 million for drug deaths emergency. https://www.gov.scot/news/more-than-gbp-250-million-for-drug-deaths-emergency/
Carmichael, M. (2024, March 11). Thousands of Scots with Long Covid not getting enough support. Glasgow Times. https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottish-news/24166589.thousands-scots-long-covid-not-getting-enough-support/
Scottish Government. (2022, September 9). Long Covid support fund. https://www.gov.scot/news/long-covid-support-fund/
Scottish Government. (2024, March 12). Freedom of Information request: Long Covid funding spend (FOI reference: 202400422426). https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400422426/
Hawthorne, K. (2023, March 22). How many people have died of Covid in Scotland since the pandemic began? The Scottish Sun. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/14525561/scotland-covid-deaths-since-pandemic/
Mahase, E. (2021). Covid-19: Long covid must be recognised as occupational disease, says BMA. BMJ, 374, n2258. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2258
STV News. (2024, March 14). More than 70,000 Scots living with Long Covid not receiving support they need, charity warns. https://news.stv.tv/scotland/more-than-70000-scots-living-with-long-covid-not-receiving-support-they-need-charity-warns
Scottish Government. (2024, March 14). Freedom of Information request: FOI-202400435107. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400435107/
Geddes, J., & Cook, J. (2024, August 20). Scotland's drug deaths still worst in Europe after 12% rise. BBC Scotland News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5ll3ler7o
Scottish Government. (2024). Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: July to September 2024. Retrieved from https://www.gov.scot/publications/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland-july-september-2024/