12 | Nursing in Practice | Summer 2022
long Covid the support they need is exacerbating long Covid symptoms and making it less likely they ’ re going to be fit to get back to work ,’ she says .
‘ No two cases are the same ’ Kerry Davies , who is employed as a community nurse at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust , and also has long Covid , says she has benefited from a supportive employer .
After contracting Covid in March 2020 , Ms Davies returned to work but had to stop five or six weeks later because of returning symptoms . ‘ One symptom would come , leave and then another would appear ,’ she says . ‘ I might get an upset tummy , and that would go , then I ’ d get a rash , and that would go , and I ’ d get brain fog , fatigue , coughing , heat intolerance , low oxygen saturations , neck pain , sore glands , and ongoing temperatures for around 15 months . Wave after wave of ridiculous symptoms .’ The situation got even tougher when cognitive and communication issues emerged : ‘ I could no longer hang out the washing – I didn ’ t understand what to do with the peg – and couldn ’ t cross the road . My judgement went . I couldn ’ t work out how to put my phone on charge . I couldn ’ t read properly ; I didn ’ t recognise basic words or letters .’
But the trust ’ s occupational health and wellbeing clinical lead and matron Clare Hill explains that the occupational health team touched in with Ms Davies – and every other staff member with long Covid – at least every four weeks . In this way , she says , the occupational health physician at the trust was ‘ able to see some small progress in Kerry ’ s condition , which Kerry herself might not have spotted ’.
Ms Davies has managed to work with LCNM and help with a long Covid network set up by her trust . She has also spoken out about her experiences , which are the sort of experiences the employer might be able to benefit from , Ms Hill says : ‘ It ’ d be great if we could utilise some of those skills within the trust to be able to support and grow awareness for long Covid . It ’ s just about making sure that we do look outside of the box . We ’ re not giving up on anybody .’
The trust has looked at temporary redeployment into more manageable roles for staff with long Covid and considered ‘ colleagues who are still signed off just coming in for small amounts of time to do a role they
I couldn ’ t work out how to put my phone on charge . I couldn ’ t read properly ; I didn ’ t recognise basic words or letters Kerry Davies
Even though we don ’ t know the underlying causes or what the treatment is , there ’ s still hope Susannah Thompson
The NHS 3Ps principle for people recovering from Covid
PACE PLAN PRIORITISE
Give yourself permission to slow down
Spread out tiring activities with rest in between
Ensure you plan for tasks you need to do , but also ones you enjoy
feel comfortable with ’. Ms Hill continues : ‘ It ’ s fair enough that some of them might not be able to act in the capacity they were prior to having long Covid , but we still value their skills and their contributions .’ Most of all , it ’ s about ‘ trial and error ’ and recognising that ‘ no two cases are exactly the same ’, she advises .
‘ Lots of people still have lots to give ’ Susannah Thompson , a GP and medical director in North Tyneside , who has long Covid , says she ‘ never got back ’ to her normal self or medical work after contracting Covid in April 2020 . At first , she slept for about 20 hours a day and would force herself to wake up for Teams meetings for her medical director role . In early 2021 , she started finding it difficult to walk and was diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome . She got a wheelchair , which she said was a ‘ big step ... accepting the condition wasn ’ t going away but that it wasn ’ t going to stop me ’. In September 2021 , she collapsed and ended up in hospital . She has not returned to work since , having developed chest pains , brain fog and more significant fatigue .
Dr Thompson believes there are lots of ways GP practices can support staff living with long Covid , but acknowledges the difficulties in primary care : ‘ Hospitals have protected income , specific NHS directives and occupational health departments , and the potential to move staff from one area to another . A GP practice might only have a couple of practice nurses and a couple of GPs .’
However , practices should ask staff ‘ what they can and can ’ t do ’, and understand this might change from day to day as ‘ long Covid is a very personal condition ’. For example , some staff might find ‘ they ’ re fine to take bloods all day but would struggle with a more complicated task ’. She continues : ‘ There are lots of people who still have a lot to give . For example , nurses are great with long-term conditions ’, which is work they might be able to complete from home .
Dr Thompson also suggests that healthcare professionals with long Covid now have an additional understanding of what it ’ s like to be a patient and deal with uncertainty : ‘ In primary care , there ’ s a lot of uncertainty with lots of conditions . But people with long Covid can understand it ’ s helpful to acknowledge that uncertainty , and that even though we don ’ t know what the underlying causes are and what the treatment is , there ’ s still hope things will improve and there ’ s still things that might help – starting with listening .’
‘ If you support staff now , you ’ re earning their loyalty , and making them feel respected and worthwhile . Employers need to have patience with their staff with long Covid ,’ Dr Thompson adds .