even though we re now 18 months into the pandemic. chest heart and stroke questions how anyone can know what services are needed and where, and how much they will cost, if the data hasn t been collected. i suppose it s part ofjust a very complex picture within our health and social care system and the problems that were already here before long covid happened. but i think data collection is something that we are, 18 months into the pandemic now, there, you know, surely should be some sort of a coordinated approach there and how can the department even know that the money that they ve ring fenced is going to be enough? the department said there are difficulties collecting data on long covid, because of a changing picture where some people recover but others become ill. it added, data is now being gathered but it will be a number of months before there is enough to analyse. it expects the collection of data will improve once services are fully up and running. zoe and dad, david are
so long for itjust becomes. 0verwhelming. zoe mcnulty is one of around 20,000 people in northern ireland thought to have some form of long covid. but what is this illness? scientists are still trying to establish a clinical definition. but for now, the uk guidelines define it as a condition that develops during or after the initial infection, that lasts for more than 12 weeks, and its symptoms cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. so far the illness has had more than 200 potential symptoms linked to it. professor terence stevenson is carrying out
i suppose it s part ofjust a very complex picture within our health and social care system and the problems that were already here before long covid happened. but i think data collection is something that we are, 18 months into the pandemic now, there, you know, surely should be some sort of a coordinated approach there and how can the department even know that the money that they ve ring fenced is going to be enough? the department said there are difficulties collecting data on long covid, because of a changing picture where some people recover but others become ill. it added, data is now being gathered but it will be a number of months before there is enough to analyse. it expects the collection of data will improve once services are fully up and running. zoe and dad, david are trying to stay positive. even if the pandemic was gone and even if everything was back to normal, you re still not back to normal. i m not back to normal.
stories of resilience but also desperation, pain. and we ask, 18 months into the pandemic, why are they still waiting for the stormont executive to provide long covid services to help them? my name is zoe mcnulty, i am 27 years old, i am from derry and i caught covid at the very end of march. 31st march 2020.
my symptoms with long covid are, chronic fatigue, asthma, brain fog, memory problems, intolerance to heat, dizziness, heart pains, palpitations, high blood pressure, high pulse, aches and pains, headaches, nausea. be hard to count. the zoe mcnulty before i had covid, i was very adventurous. i lived in italy for nine months. i was a nanny with this family. i had graduated from my masters in december 2019 and i was hoping to travel and teach in different countries. use the last of my 20s to just be free. i think for certain that i caught covid when i worked in a pharmacy. after covid, my body