Thousands of frontline health and care workers, as well as key workers, have developed long Covid while responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
With many not being able to return to work because of the debilitating effects of long Covid, March For Change is now running a petition urging the government to recognise that long Covid is an occupational disease. The petition has already garnered over 15,000 signatures and has now received support of Dr. Chaand Nagpaul.
Backing March for Change's calls for a long-Covid compensation scheme for frontline workers, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA Council chair, said, “After being exposed to increased risk working on the frontline during the Covid-19 pandemic, there are now healthcare workers across the country living with the long-term, debilitating impacts of having caught the virus. We have heard harrowing stories from doctors suffering with long Covid, who are often unable to work, threatening their financial stability and affecting their lives at home.
“The dedication and selflessness shown by healthcare workers over the last year, and the debt of gratitude owed to them, cannot be underestimated. While the Government and employers must increase efforts to protect staff now and stop them contracting Covid-19 in the first place, for some it is already too late. So it is only right that ministers urgently provide a compensation scheme to support healthcare staff and their families who are now living with the devastating after-effects of Covid-19.”
March for Change is urging the government for the following:
1. The UK government should launch a national registry to count and publish the number of people living with long Covid in the UK. The UK government should release the figure of people living with long Covid in the same way as is done with positive cases, hospital admissions and deaths due to Covid-19. Long Covid patient registers must be established based on universal case definitions that ensure no widening of inequalities based on variation in clinical practice.
2. The UK government should recognise long Covid as an occupational disease and set up a long Covid compensation scheme for frontline, health and social care, and key workers. This scheme should go beyond existing sick pay schemes and should be specific to those living with long Covid. Such a scheme should be comparable to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and should recognise the relapsing nature of long Covid.
3. The UK government’s vaccination roll-out programme should take long Covid into account. It should consider the risk of developing long Covid in groups that are not classed as clinically vulnerable.
4. The UK government should rapidly increase research funding for the study of the long-term effects of Covid-19 on people’s health, extending to include those who were not hospitalised or tested.
5. The UK government should develop guidelines for employers similar to NICE and SIGN guidelines.
