Covid-19 has become something we are expected to live with – but hundreds of thousands of people who caught the virus are still struggling. Those living with long Covid may have symptoms weeks or months after the initial infection, often on a rollercoaster of relapse and recovery with little insight into when it will end – and it is likely the condition is disproportionately affecting nurses.

At least 122,000( or 3.6 %) of healthcare workers are experiencing long Covid, according to self-reported data from the Office for National Statistics( ONS) as of April 2021 1, the highest rate among any occupational group. That figure excludes agency staff and those working in primary care but does include community nurses and midwives. There has been no further update from ONS on long Covid rates among healthcare workers, but incidence among the general population has continued to soar – with 2 million people in the UK now living with the condition, according to data from June this year. 2 It comes as no surprise that in January this year, MPs on the all-party parliamentary group( APPG) on coronavirus estimated that more than 1.82m working days were lost to healthcare workers with long Covid from March 2020 to September 2021 across England’ s 219 NHS trusts. 3

Despite this, support for nurses with long Covid is patchy and dependent on employers. This means that

What is long Covid? 6

Long Covid is considered an illness with a complex or non-linear recovery, which means it is likely that relapses will occur. 7

• Long Covid includes:

– Ongoing symptomatic Covid Symptoms continue for four to 12 weeks after infection.

– Post-Covid syndrome Ongoing symptoms continue for longer than 12 weeks and cannot be explained by any other condition.

• Common symptoms of long Covid include: Extreme tiredness, dizziness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, chest pain or tightness, and problems with memory and concentration(‘ brain fog’). But symptoms are wide-ranging, with a University College of London study in July 2021 finding reports of more than 200 symptoms across 10 organ systems. 8

References 1 ONS. Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus, 1 April 2021. bit. ly / 3t8Fz8o 2 ONS Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus, 1 June 2022. bit. ly / 3NSgHKh 3 APPG. Long Covid report, March 2022. bit. ly / 3ag3aNN 4 Unison survey. bit. ly / 3m10iHm 5 NHS England. Your Covid recovery. bit. ly / 3wTtsNu 6 NHS England. Guidelines for supporting our NHS people affected by Long Covid, February 2022. bit. ly / 3PP5ps1 7 Chartered Society of Physiotherapists. A safety-first approach to long Covid assessment. 2021. bit. ly / 3tjcmYs 8 UCL. Identification of over 200 long Covid symptoms. 2021. bit. ly / 3mnfmzi

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