Recovery post COVID-19

The global pandemic has affected every country and rehabilitation medicine and services are seeing new symptoms in patients who have recovered from the disease. If you are suffering from chronic fatigue, anxiety, weakness and other post covid symptoms, our team at Circle Rehabilitation offer medical and rehabilitation treatment programmes. Specialist long covid rehabilitation is tailored to help manage your breathing, improve your strength and get you back on the road to recovery.

COVID-19 is a multifaceted disease that affects each person differently. Some people have experienced an acute phase, a chronic phase and now are in a recovery phase - the journey to recovery is not always straightforward. 

Covid-19 primarily affects the respiratory tract; however, it is known that major organs such as the heart, brain, musculoskeletal system and nervous system can all be affected.  Along with the health implications on an individual, there are also other implications affecting their life, such as relationships and the ability to work or to look after children and dependants. 

• Problems with memory or concentration
• Irritability or being short-tempered
• Low mood
• Breathlessness and/or a cough
• Stress and anxiety, or a reduced sense of wellbeing
• Weakness in exercise and activity
• Loss of energy and fatigue syndrome, reduced muscle strength 
• Problems with your voice or swallowing
• Pain
• Traumatic stress disorder
• Intensive care syndrome
• Problems carrying out physical activity

The emerging reports of Long COVID describes how people who may have recovered in a hospital or in an intensive care unit - or indeed in the community or at home - are experiencing debilitating conditions months after they have recovered from the actual coronavirus disease.

Those who are recovering from COVID-19 may experience all or some of these new symptoms. Everyone's recovery is different, which is why we create a private rehabilitation plan and treatment plan at Circle Rehabilitation, which is individual to you. Our rehabilitation programmes are medically-led - your care and rehabilitation is overseen by one of our specialist rehabilitation consultants and physicians.

Individuals are affected differently. The World Health Organisation says that it takes approximately 14 days for people with mild cases to recover, and three to six weeks for people with severe or critical illnesses, however this may vary from person to person. Some people may have a higher risk than others, and much depends on many factors.

The National Institute for Health Research, has been carrying out a study of the experience of people in the UK who have recovered from COVID-19, including experiences of people following hospital admissions and with existing and new medical conditions as well as with symptoms of COVID-19. The emerging findings show that while some people have a mild illness and may have had no symptoms of COVID-19 at all, others are suffering with so-called Long COVID. This is a persistent illness post COVID infection. 

At Circle Rehabilitation our multidisciplinary team tailor programmes and treatments to suit the needs and requirements of each patient. The specific nature of these needs will dictate the specific type of rehabilitation required.

Multidisciplinary rehabilitation involves suitable therapists depending on the patient’s needs and your care plan may require a stay with us or can be delivered in a clinic setting.

All our rehabilitation programmes are medically-led and your care and rehabilitation are overseen by one of our specialist rehabilitation consultants and physicians. The course of treatment varies between patients with everyone being affected differently.

The World Health Organisation says it takes approximately 14 days for people with mild cases to recover and three to six weeks for people with severe or critical illnesses. This may vary from person to person, some people may be at a higher risk than others depending upon many individual factors.

Our multi-disciplinary private team of professionals at Circle Rehabilitation will work with you to give you the support and care needed to recover.

• Specialist consultants - these could be doctors who specialise in pulmonary rehabilitation, critical care, chronic disease, mental health problems, acute illness and physical medicine. They can also provide psychosocial support and psychological support.
• Specialist rehabilitation consultants - recovery post-COVID will include a rehabilitation programme tailored to the patient. Everyone has different rehabilitation needs; some patients may have been in a hospital setting or an intensive care unit, while others will have been treated in primary care (by their GP) or in the community or community health service. All Circle Health patient rehabilitation programmes are medically-led, that is to say that a specialist rehabilitation consultant or specialist consultant will oversee and provide the clinical management for your post-COVID rehabilitation.
• Nurse - registered nurses at Circle Rehabilitation are part of the group of healthcare professionals who can guide care across your post-COVID recovery and rehabilitation programme. They will work with you to achieve long term outcomes and long term impact.
• Physiotherapists and specialist therapists - these healthcare professionals  can help with musculoskeletal, psychological and community support. Physiotherapy can help with a number of proactive rehabilitation needs - physical activity to improve your mobility and muscle strength, pulmonary rehabilitation to help you breathe more easily, and other rehabilitation considerations. 
• Occupational therapists - occupational therapy can help you get back to normal post-COVID. At our specialist rehabilitation centre in Birmingham, our occupational therapists use state-of-the-art equipment and facilities to guide you towards life back home.
• Speech and language therapists, dietitians and other therapists - rehabilitation services at Circle Health involve and include a range of therapies and therapists depending on your need. 
• Psychologists - people who recover post-COVID report that the physical illness has also left them feeling anxious, depressed, irritable and disorientated. This impact on mental health is not to be underestimated and is an important part of rehabilitation services in our hospital setting or community setting.
• Rehabilitation assistants, allied health professionals and healthcare workers - the entire health care team forms part of a multidisciplinary team around the patient.
• Inpatient and outpatient teams - whether you have had a hospital discharge but feel you would like some extra time in hospital to recover from being in an acute hospital setting, whether you wish to continue your rehabilitation by visiting as an outpatient, or wish to continue your rehabilitation in the community or at home - we can help

Recovery from COVID-19 has many factors. At Circle Rehabilitation, we believe that a whole-person approach is the best one.

For example, a person may experience shortness of breath, distress, mild cognitive impairment and fatigue  just' treating one of those symptoms may mean that the others remain unaddressed or exacerbated.

Absolutely. Most people who have recovered from COVID-19 have been in the community  even though you have not been in hospital you may be experiencing new symptoms associated with what your body has endured during your illness. Our private service at Circle Rehabilitation is for people recovering from COVID-10 whether that has been in hospital or elsewhere.

At Circle Rehabilitation, we aim:

• To help you recover from COVID-19, with strategies designed to return you to health
• To work in partnership with you and your private consultant to achieve the best possible health outcomes for you.
• Treat you as an individual, putting together a package of care that is tailored to you.

Richard Bates is a passionate and energetic 61-year-old man who works in the graphic arts industry. After contracting COVID-19 in July 2020, Richard experienced long-term covid-19 symptoms. He attended Circle Health Group’s Rehabilitation Centre in Birmingham to recover with the specialist help of our multidisciplinary team. This is Richard’s story...