Thanks to amazing support from our community and a generous grant of £88,000 from NHS Charities Together, our Road to Recovery appeal has raised £150,000.

This funding will be used to create a specialist programme of psychological support for patients who have recovered from the most serious cases of Covid-19, and their families.

For those patients who have been critically ill, the impact of Covid-19 can last way beyond the initial virus. This can include post-traumatic stress, memory loss, chronic pain and fatigue, which can have an enormous effect on day-to-day life.

Bill, who was supported by ECMO - a last chance treatment for patients used when other treatments failed to improve the condition - at Royal Brompton, said: “I was extremely ill with Coronavirus. I spent a lot of time in intensive care, one month of which was in a coma. When I was moved to a heart and lung ward to start my recovery proper, slowly the pennies started dropping into place and the enormity of what I’d been through then hit me.

“[Now] I’m able to physically block it off, but it’s amazing how many things can trigger it. A ray of sunlight on a wall can take me back to one of the wards I was on. Even though one is externally on the mend, look well, you’re still living all these things that happened while you were in the hospital.”

Our hospitals will be able to offer one to one psychological support to patients like Bill, to help them make sense of what they have gone through and help them heal from their traumatic experiences. They are also offering group support sessions for patients and separately for families whose loved ones were critical ill with Covid-19.

Dr Anne-Marie Doyle, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and project lead for Road to Recovery, said:

I want to say a huge thank you to NHS Charities Together for their generous grant which helped the Road to Recovery appeal reach its target. We are now able to expand our team and provide dedicated psychological support to patients and their families who have survived the most serious cases of Covid-19, but still carry the trauma of long stays on ITU.  

Thank you also to every individual who supported this appeal. Your generosity will help the hundreds of patients affected, and their families, see a brighter future ahead.