New rehabilitation app to aid recovery of COVID-19 ’long-haulers’

Prospective students Current students UCL in the media Services for media Tell us your story - An innovative digital programme, developed by UCL researchers with Barts Health NHS Trust and UCL Partners, to treat the long lasting effects of COVID-19 infection, is now being used by patients. The app, believed to be the first such tool to be rolled out in the UK, is being given to patients from Barts Health hospitals, who have been discharged but are continuing to recover and rehabilitate at home. Over 300,000 people have been infected by COVID-19 in the UK. For many of those that survive however, this is only the start of their journey to recovery. There are increasing reports of COVID-19 survivors still suffering from debilitating symptoms of tiredness, breathlessness and anxiety many weeks and months after the peak of their infection - a group often known as the COVID-19 'long-haulers'. Hospitals are trying to avoid bringing patients into clinics to stop further spread of infection. But survivors report feeling abandoned and left to deal with these problems on their own.