Long COVID in children would be best handled in a community setting, but GPs need more education and guidelines for treating paediatric cases, infectious diseases experts say. 

A parliamentary inquiry examining long COVID has been told the NSW health system is not set up to cope with paediatric cases, and a lack of a definition for the illness is impacting treatment.

Paediatric infectious diseases specialist Associate Professor Philip Britton told the committee a co-ordinated system was needed that could escalate care needs when required.

“The health system in my setting, in NSW, is not well set up to appropriately respond to long COVID and post-COVID-19 conditions in children at this point in time,” said Professor Britton, of the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network.