Fractional exhaled nitric oxide( FeNO) in asthma
11 while many nurses are given the time and patience required, some report being forced to return to work early or having to leave the profession altogether.
‘ It’ s a lottery’ Senior lecturer in children and young people’ s nursing Dr Alison Twycross – who has long Covid – founded the advocacy group Long Covid Nurses and Midwives UK( LCNM). She says the treatment of healthcare professionals with the condition has sometimes been‘ immoral’, adding that even when people feel they are being treated well by an employer, the support can‘ drop off around the two-year mark’.
‘ We have staff going on half pay, no pay, and being dismissed – and as a result having to sell their houses, downsize, rent out their flats, or move in with friends or family,’ she says.‘ People have been treated abominably. Union support can be patchy, managers don’ t always understand about long Covid, HR doesn’ t always understand and neither do colleagues.’
In April, research conducted by public services union Unison found healthcare staff with long Covid are returning to work early because they are afraid of losing their jobs. 4 Of 1,916 healthcare workers who had long Covid, 68 % said they were back in the workplace while suffering with symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue, brain fog and aching joints, while 8 % said they had been too ill to return to work.
Almost half( 43 %) said their employer did go the extra mile when it came to support to return to work – such as adjusting job roles, enabling a flexible return, or allowing time off without using up sickness or leave entitlement. However, a similar proportion( 46 %) said that although their employer was initially supportive, this changed as time went on. Almost one in 10( 9 %) was asked to attend a formal absence hearing, and 2 % reported being threatened with disciplinary action or even dismissal.
Dr Twycross advocates for a phased return – where an employee agrees with their employer a way to stagger how they resume work – but says not all employees are
Staff need an individualised approach, with a phased return that will need to be 12 weeks or longer Dr Alison Twycross
offered this:‘ People are being told they don’ t need a phased return because they have had 18 months off on full pay. But staff need a bespoke, individualised approach, and the phased return will need to be 12 weeks or longer. Sometimes people don’ t get that, or their phased return is too short, or they are asked to use accrued annual leave to cover it. Some have been given a year to find redeployment, others just four to six weeks. It’ s a lottery.’
NHS England told Nursing in Practice that individual NHS organisations were responsible for managing the employment of staff with long Covid. A spokesperson underlined that NHSE had invested more than £ 220m and opened 90 specialist long Covid clinics.
But Dr Twycross warns that the‘ stress and anxiety’ experienced by staff with long Covid adversely affects their symptoms.‘ So ironically, not giving staff with
Fractional exhaled nitric oxide( FeNO) in asthma
The national FeNO programme has developed free resources to support the use of FeNO testing for improved diagnosis and management of asthma
Access our educational toolkit and more