Long Covid: NHS staff 'pressured' to go back to work

NHS workers have told BBC Wales that they are feeling pressured to go back to work after long Covid

NHS staff who have contracted long Covid are "under pressure" to go back to work "too quickly", according to a union.

Unison Wales said this is because managers are "panicking about tackling mounting waiting lists".

It comes as NHS workers tell BBC Wales they feel pressured to go back to work.

The NHS Confederation said there was a package of support for staff affected by "longer term effects of Covid".

A recent survey suggested about 56,000 people in Wales have symptoms of long Covid, which include fatigue, headaches and coughing.

Those working in health and social care workers have reported higher rates than people in other occupations.

Paul Summers, Unison Cymru Wales lead officer for health, said: "Unison and other trade unions are reporting that members are contacting them who are suffering with long Covid to say they feel like they're under pressure to return to work.

"It may be managers are looking at the waiting lists and thinking we need to move on to this, so they are concerned that they're not well but they are being asked to return to work."

Nurse Lynne Wakefield, from Holyhead, said that while her employers have been "very good" in supporting her, long Covid has meant she is "not the same person any more".

She is still suffering with fatigue and "brain fog" after contracting Covid last June.

After trying twice to return to work at Ysbyty Penrhos Stanley in Holyhead, she had to return home because of fatigue and dizzy spells.

"I used to do three 12-hour shifts a week," she said.

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"I could go out after a 12-hour shift, play a game of darts, and still get up for work in the morning.

"I couldn't even dream of doing that now."

And the impact has been mental, as well as physical.

"Simple things like, I like to do sudokus," she said.

"I used to do them four or five minutes max, now it could take me an hour to do one.

"I'm trying to do everything I can to make myself better but it's like going round in circles."

Living in 'limbo'

Ms Wakefield said her employers have been "very good" in supporting her during long Covid

Ms Wakefield said her employer had been "very good" at supporting her, but she does not know what the future holds.

"I do feel like I'm in limbo and there's nothing I can do until I get a diagnosis of some sort," she said.

She is on a waiting list to see a consultant and said there is "a big list for their care".

She said: "The GPs do their best, but they don't know enough about it.

"I'm not saying that consultants know everything but they know a bit more, but there's such a long waiting list."

Betsi Cadwladr health board, which covers north Wales, said it was "developing patient pathways with our community-based services" so people can "access the right health professionals or service, at or as close to home as possible, to address the longer-term effects of Covid-19".

Other NHS workers with long Covid symptoms, who did not want to be named, told BBC Wales Live how they feel about the ways they are being treated by their employers:

• "I knew that returning to work would put my recovery at risk, but it was work or starve. On my return, I was informed that any further days absent in the next 12 months would result in a formal warning."

• "I'm so worried about losing my job as I've been off work for so long and I'm still nowhere near well enough to return."

• "If they say I have to come back or be dismissed, I'll have to do it, I'll have to try [and go back] and survive. I am so emotional at the moment, I can't stop crying - I feel I am going crazy."

Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation which represents health boards, said: "All health boards across Wales are working with, and learning from, patients suffering from ongoing symptoms of Covid and adjusting care based on their varying and individual needs.

"There is also a full package of long-term support in place to support all staff who worked tirelessly to care for the population but are now suffering the longer term effects of Covid-19 themselves.

"Across the Welsh NHS there's a huge amount of work being done to understand more about the implications of coronavirus and the longer term issues staff and the public face."

What are the political parties saying?

Welsh Labour said its NHS recovery plan would include "wellbeing support needed for the NHS staff helping us deliver it".

The Welsh Conservatives said it was concerned at how NHS staff were being treated and it would establish clinics "dedicated to treating long Covid".

The Welsh Liberal Democrats said they were "concerned" many NHS staff feel pressurised into returning to work and they would ensure they had access to support like counselling.

Plaid Cymru said health and care workers with long Covid have "suffered because of their selfless service" and the party's "drive to train and recruit 6,000 new health workers" will help take pressure off them.

• Find out more on this story on Wednesday on BBC Wales Live at 22:35 BST on BBC One Wales and iPlayer afterwards