Charities quit SNP Government's Long Covid network over 'broken promises' as £4.5m fund not spent
Long Covid Scotland and Long Covid Kids have quit a Scottish Government network.
Two charities have quit a strategic network set up by the Scottish Government to tackle long Covid, citing frustration at delays to using funding in what has been described as a “damning” decision.
Long Covid Scotland and Long Covid Kids have penned a formal resignation letter citing the reasons for leaving the National Strategic Network for Long-Term Effects of Covid-19.
The Government body had been set up with the aim of improving the health and wellbeing of those living with long-term Covid effects.
But the bosses of the respective charities have accused SNP ministers of “inaction and broken promises”, with the Government accused of failing to spend £4.5 million in funding allocated in the Scottish Budget in December last year.
Opposition parties said those who had shared “painful” experiences of suffering from long Covid had been “shamefully ignored and sidelined” by the Government.
The charities, which were founding contributors to the long Covid network set up in 2022, listed systemic failure, lack of leadership and a breakdown in trust as reasons for quitting the body.
Jane Ormerod, chair of Long Covid Scotland, said: “In December 2024, the Scottish Government announced a £4.5m non-recurring fund. Yet by July 2025, not a penny has been allocated.
“What was framed as a hopeful investment now stands as a symbol of inaction and broken promises.”
Helen Goss, chief operating officer and Scottish lead at Long Covid Kids, added: “We entered 2025 with cautious optimism. Instead, six months on, we are forced to resign from a system that continues to fail the very people it was created to support.”
The £4.5m fund was originally announced by Finance Secretary Shona Robison and was intended to deliver new specialist support for long Covid, ME [Myalgic Encephalomyelitis], chronic fatigue and other similar conditions.
About 82 per cent of people with long Covid struggle to access care, reports commissioned by the strategic network last year claimed.
A statement issued on behalf of both charities said: “The Scottish Government remains functionally absent from the network, offering no leadership, no oversight, and no enforcement of its own policies.
“Workstreams have stalled, strategic oversight commitments [are] unmet. Internal discussions now reference ‘wind down’ and ‘rollback’, rather than delivery. Some services have now closed, despite funding and a mandate to operate until March 2026.”
“They warn that without urgent action, remaining sparse services will disappear entirely, worsening what they describe as “a public health emergency being quietly ignored.”
Jackie Baillie, Dr Sandesh Gulhane and Alex Cole-Hamilton, co-conveners of the Scottish Parliament’s long Covid cross-party group, said in a joint statement: “It is a damning indictment of the SNP’s lack of leadership that Long Covid Scotland and Long Covid Kids have had to resign from the Strategic Long Covid Network because of the Scottish Government’s failures.
“Those who have shared their painful and personal experiences of long Covid in good faith have been shamefully ignored and sidelined, leaving people feeling unseen and unheard. The Scottish Government has lost the confidence of the long Covid and ME community.
"The Scottish Government must urgently distribute the £4.5m to health boards and provide clear direction and vision so that new specialist staff are recruited fast and new services are up and running.”
The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.
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