Well being |Protracted Covid: Well being employees go to court docket for compensation

Round 70 long-term healthcare employees with Covid have taken their battle to the Excessive Court docket to attempt to sue the NHS and different employers for compensation.

Workers from England and Wales consider they first caught Covid whereas at work through the pandemic and say they weren’t correctly protected in opposition to the virus.

A lot of them say they’ve been left with a life-changing incapacity and are more likely to lose their revenue in consequence.

The Division of Well being mentioned there are “classes to be realized” from Covid.

The group believes they weren’t supplied enough private protecting gear (PPE) at work, together with eye safety, gloves, robes and aprons.

Particularly, they are saying they need to have had entry to superior masks, which assist forestall airborne droplets from affected person coughs and sneezes that might include the Covid-19 virus.

However the masks they got have been in accordance with nationwide tips.

On Wednesday, a decide mentioned the group ought to hear their circumstances alongside a separate group of long-term Covid-affected well being employees, who’re in search of compensation.

The subsequent listening to is scheduled for October.

One of many employees, nurse Rachel Hext, instructed me she was “damaged” she must wait till the case progressed.

Ms Hext, 36, has at all times insisted she caught Covid in her job as a nurse at a small group hospital in Devon.

She tells me that she beloved her job, however now it looks like she has misplaced her profession.

“It is devastating. I dwell an existence as an alternative of a life. It stops me from doing loads of issues I need to do. And it has been 4 years.”

His lengthy listing of Covid signs ranged from mind fog and excessive fatigue to nerve injury and deafness in a single ear.

Lengthy-term covid, a power situation following a covid an infection, impacts an estimated 1.9 million individuals within the UK and might trigger coronary heart palpitations, joint ache and focus issues.

Many individuals on this group say their signs have left them disabled.

Every member of the group says that Covid has destroyed their lives for a very long time. A few of them can solely handle to work quick hours.

Peter Easton, 41, is among the many group – he labored in emergency theaters in Cardiff.

Julie Taylor, 45, was a group nurse in Hull.

That they had completely different jobs than Rachel through the pandemic, however their tales are related. All of them consider that they caught Covid at work.

Mr Easton says he was in “wonderful” well being earlier than the pandemic. He beloved to run – typically half marathons or 10k races.

“Now, I rise up, take the youngsters to highschool. I come dwelling and sit on the chair with a heat blanket as a result of it helps my legs. One other factor is that I do not take care of the chilly. Can,” he says.

“That is it. That is my life. I’ve tried to return to work. I am unable to.”

Ms Taylor’s expertise backs this up – she says she used to do 12 fitness center lessons every week. Nonetheless, she now considers herself disabled.

When requested why they need to sue their employers, all of them give the identical reply.

“We weren’t protected engaged on the entrance line, doing our jobs,” says Ms Taylor.

She needs a confession and an apology.

Mr Easton additionally needs somebody to take accountability – however says there’s additionally a monetary facet to it.

He mentioned he estimated he would have earned round £1.5m throughout his working life, which he thought would not be potential.

Ms Hext additionally feels that a part of her profession has been taken away from her: “I had 30 years of working life forward of me. And I do not do it anymore… I am actually sorry it is come to this.”