Chesham and Amersham MP Dame Cheryl Gillan gave an “enormous public thank you” to “valiant” Bucks health workers, as health secretary Matt Hancock praised Stoke Mandeville Hospital as “excellent”.

Dame Cheryl made the comments during the health secretary’s update to the House of Commons on Wednesday, December 30, where she also spoke about the specialist clinic to treat Covid patients with long-term symptoms which will be set up at Stoke Mandeville.

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She said: “Buckinghamshire health services are under severe pressure with escalating rates of Covid and hospital admissions.

“On behalf of all my colleagues in Buckinghamshire, may I give an enormous public thank you to our healthcare staff, who are working round the clock in a growing emergency, as well as providing testing and vaccinations at multiple sites in the county?”

She also asked Mr Hancock what extra resources would be made available to support “valiant” health workers, adding: “Despite those pressures, the trust is establishing a centre to help people with the effects of long Covid, which are now causing increased concern. It will be at Stoke Mandeville.

“What extra resources can the secretary of state make available to support our valiant health workers and, in particular, to help those now suffering from the effects of long Covid, which are very serious in some cases?”

Mr Hancock replied: “My right hon. Friend is absolutely spot on.

“The issue of long Covid is very serious, and we have put more support into the NHS and into research to try to understand long Covid better.

“I know about it very much myself, and I understand the impacts that it can have, which can be debilitating on people’s lives.

“I am delighted that there is a long Covid centre at Stoke Mandeville.

“It is such an excellent hospital, and I am not surprised that it is doing all the cutting-edge work that is needed, but the single most important thing we can do to support those who have long Covid is to understand better the causes and therefore understand what we can do to help people get their lives back to normal.”