Long Covid health staff 'abandoned and forgotten'

Healthcare workers with long Covid say the government needs to do more to support those left with life-changing disabilities since catching the virus.

Nurse Rachel Hext, 37 from Paignton, insisted she caught Covid in her job as a nurse in a small community hospital in Devon.

"We were clapped and called heroes, and now those of us who have been bereaved or disabled by it have been forgotten," she said.

The government said it knew long Covid could have a debilitating impact on people's physical and mental health, that there was a "range of support for staff" and it was funding research into it.

Mrs Hext is one of a group of healthcare workers with long Covid who have taken their fight to the High Court to try to sue the NHS and other employers for compensation.

The staff, from England and Wales, said they believed they first caught Covid at work during the pandemic and said they were not properly protected from the virus.

She said: "I want acknowledgement and I want support for the people who need it.

"Long Covid is absolutely life-changing. It's devastated us as a family."

Her symptoms range from brain fog and extreme fatigue, to nerve damage and deafness.

The Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust said: "The health and wellbeing of our staff is our priority, and we are extremely grateful to all our colleagues who worked tirelessly during the pandemic to care for our patients.

"Due to ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to comment further on this matter."

Dr Rachel Ali, 46, of Plymouth, said she tested positive for Covid on Boxing Day 2021 before developing chest pain, cognitive impairments and chronic fatigue.

She was a partner in her GP practice but lost her job after being sick for 15 months.

She said: "I want the government to recognise this is still happening.

"We talk about Covid being in the past, but we are still in a pandemic. The global emergency has ended, the pandemic hasn't.

"People are still getting sick and never getting better."

Dr Ali has returned to work as a GP part-time but said she needed to rest in the afternoons because of chronic fatigue.

She said she was urging the government to recognise Covid as an occupational illness for healthcare workers.

She said: "Around the country, a lot of long Covid clinics are being decommissioned as if we are still not here."

She said people who were the worst affected should get compensation.

GP Ellie Mountstephens, 53, of Galmpton, Devon, said she contracted Covid at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

After being off sick for six months, she lost her job as a partner in a GP practice.

She said she had not felt safe to go back to work as a GP because she struggled with her memory.

She said: "I am really worried I will miss something key or I will forget to write something down. I don't trust myself to do a good job and I expect myself to do a good job for my patients."

She said she wanted the government to carry out more research into the condition.

In Cornwall, the Kernow Local Medical Committee - which represents Cornish general practice - said its pastoral service had supported "a handful of GPs where long Covid seemed to be either a major contributor or causal factor responsible for their current work or personal problems".

It added: "We are also aware of a small number of patients working in the wider local health service for whom the condition has been career ending.

"In terms of the general population, we suspect that the majority of more susceptible individuals have now been challenged by the Covid virus: this, the vaccine, herd immunity, and the lack of testing have contributed to a slowing down of referrals and hopefully of serious new cases."

A government spokesperson said: "We are committed to ensuring there are quality services across the country for people suffering with long Covid, which we know can have a debilitating impact on people's physical and mental health.

"NHS England has rolled out a range of support for staff with long Covid and other conditions.

"No single treatment currently exists for the condition, which is why we are funding research into it.

"We are also joining up health and employment support so people with long term conditions can stay in work and get back into work."

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