Long Covid: lack of PPE has had “devastating consequences” for doctors

The British Medical Association is calling for financial support for doctors and healthcare staff with Long Covid after a survey revealed that hundreds of doctors are working and earning less as a result of the illness.

The survey of more than 600 healthcare professionals with Long Covid found that one in five are now unable to work due to their post-acute Covid ill-health, and just one in three are now working full-time, compared to more than half (57%) before the onset of their illness.

Six in 10 said that post-acute Covid ill health has impacted on their ability to carry out day-to-day activities and around half (48%) have experienced a loss of earnings as a result.

The survey is the first to analyse the impact of long-term Covid-related health complications, and paints a stark picture of the devastating impact Covid continues to have on a group of people who saved lives during the pandemic.

A lack of access to RPE left doctors exposed

The doctors who responded to the survey had a wide range of symptoms including fatigue, headaches, muscular pain, nerve damage, joint pain and ongoing respiratory problems.

The BMA says many of these health effects could have been avoided if adequate PPE was provided early on in the pandemic.

Indeed, only a small minority of doctors had access to respiratory protective equipment (RPE) around the time that they contracted Covid-19, with only 11% having access to an FFP2 respirator and 16% an FFP3 respirator.

The BMA says there must be better protection for healthcare workers, who remain at risk, ensuring adequate workplace risk assessment, as well as infection prevention and control processes in healthcare settings, against airborne transmission of Covid-19 and other pathogens.

This means providing clean air everywhere in healthcare, by improved ventilation and air filtration and the provision of PPE and RPE.

Calls to recognise Long Covid as an occupational disease

The union is also calling for post-acute Covid to be recognised as an occupational disease in healthcare workers, with a definition that covers all of the debilitating disease’s symptoms.

This comes as the survey revealed that more than 65% of respondents said their post-acute Covid symptoms had not been investigated thoroughly and effectively by an NHS Long Covid clinic or centre, and almost half of doctors has not been referred to an NHS Long Covid clinic at all.

There should also be improved access to physical and mental health services to aid comprehensive assessment, appropriate investigations and treatment; and better support for post-acute Covid sufferers to return to work safely if they can, the union says.

Doctors have received ‘little support from a system they gave so much to’

Professor Raymond Agius, BMA occupational medicine committee co-chair, said the government has a “moral duty” to look after healthcare staff who were put at risk throughout the pandemic and ensure they are never put in the same position again.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, doctors were left exposed and unprotected at work. They often did not have access to the right PPE. In particular many doctors were denied effective Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) – respirators which would have considerably reduced their risk of contracting this airborne disease. Too many risk assessments of workplaces and especially of vulnerable doctors were not undertaken.

“This report underlines the devastating consequences of this lack of protection. Doctors still living with continuing symptoms have once again been left at risk with little to no support from the system that they gave so much to.

“Those well enough to return to work need support in doing so, while those who are still too sick, need adequate financial compensation to ensure they are not driven to bankruptcy by an illness they caught in the line of duty.

“Those doctors who may never work again due to the long-term effects of Covid are a huge loss to the workforce when we can least afford it,” he said.