Nursing in Practice Summer 2022 | Page 10

10 | Nursing in Practice | Summer 2022
THE HIDDEN PANDEMIC

What now for nurses with long Covid ?

Many nurses across the UK are living with long Covid , and Mimi Launder spoke to some of them to find out how they are approaching recovery and what support they are getting from employers
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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