Solent NHS Trust and Saints Foundation team up for Long Covid awareness campaign

Solent NHS Trust and Saints Foundation have come together to produce a visual campaign to raise awareness of COVID-19 and its long-term side effects, (also known as ‘Long Covid’) especially amongst the male population.

In the video produced by the Trust, Saints Foundation ambassador and former Southampton and international footballer, James Beattie, speaks to Solent Physiotherapist, Oli Holt, about ways in which people can stay fit and healthy during the pandemic and beyond. The pair also discuss Long Covid, how to spot the signs and demonstrate exercises to help people with their COVID-19 recovery, as well as general health and wellbeing. 

Statistically, people are more at risk of the serious consequences of COVID-19 if they are older, male, from certain minority ethnic backgrounds, in particular occupations, or are obese. Reaching out to these groups via Saints Foundation, the charity of Southampton FC, will help raise the profile of Long Covid and ultimately encourage people to take preventative measures against the disease, including getting vaccinated.

The Trust has also been working closely with NHS England to oversee the delivery of the Long Covid recovery plan, in partnership with Southern Health Trust and local GPs. Where a patient has been discharged back into the community, Solent is there to ensure that support services, including physiotherapy and respiratory services, are in place at home. On average it takes three months to recover noticeably from Long Covid.

James Beattie explained: “I work closely with the Foundation and I believe I’m personally aligned to their mission to keep people in the community fit and healthy, so working on this project with their partners Solent NHS Trust was a great experience. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on so many people, especially in terms of exercise and sport with people not being able to do what they love.

“Raising awareness of the long-term effects of COVID-19 is really important – particularly for men of all ages who might be more susceptible to the disease. I hope this video will help people not only recover from COVID-19 but also to help people keep well, especially as we start to return to more of a ‘normal' life. I think a lot of us will be happy when we can all return to stadiums again, but it’s really important that we take the right steps to make it as safe as possible, for everyone.”

David Noyes Chief Operating Officer for Solent NHS Trust said: “People like James and our partners Saints Foundation, have been doing great things in the community to help keep people active and healthy in difficult times. We hope that this campaign will make people stop and think a little more about the effects of COVID-19 and also the importance of the vaccination. Everyone in our vaccination centres has been working tirelessly to administer these life-changing vaccines and we continue to encourage all adults to come forward for both doses of the vaccine as soon as they can.”

Watch the video below.

 

For more information about the Long Covid recovery plan please visit, www.yourcovidrecovery.com

For more information about Saints Foundation, please visit www.southamptonfc.com/saints-foundation or contact j.barker@saintsfoundation.co.uk