Delphi study

This Delphi study is a sub-study of the STIMULATE-ICP project.

As we learn more about COVID-19 and are better able to support people, it has become clear that many people experience long term symptoms relating to a COVID-19 infection (Long COVID). This is a challenge for healthcare. Traditionally, care pathways for long-term conditions are focused on single diseases; however, that approach is not effective at supporting people with more than one long-term condition or those with medically not yet explained symptoms. Long COVID usually presents with clusters of symptoms, which may change over time. Therefore, healthcare services have to take a broader approach to care focusing on more than one system (biological, psychological and social which together are called a biopsychosocial approach). This is called an integrated care pathway. Integrated care means more than patient-centred care which can be provided in one setting, integrated care involves the whole pathway from primary care to specialist services and rehabilitation services.

In the UK, integrated care pathways offer an opportunity to explore the benefits of an integrated approach to care for Long COVID, long-term conditions and multiple long-term conditions. This Delphi study refers to the approaches for considering transferability of present long COVID integrated care pathway care models to other long-term conditions.

This study seeks to answer the broad research question: What are effective integrated care pathways for individuals with Long COVID and how can they be transferred to other long-term conditions including mental disorders, multiple long-term conditions and the interface between known medical disorders and medically not yet explained symptoms as well as newly developed conditions?

This work is done by Prof. Christina Van der Feltz-Cornelis, Dr. Jenny Sweetman and Dr. Fidan Turk of the York team.