Long Covid: Health staff go to court for compensation

Nearly 70 healthcare workers with Long Covid will take their fight to the High Court later to sue the NHS and other employers for compensation.

The staff, from England and Wales, believe they first caught Covid at work during the pandemic and say they were not properly protected from the virus.

Many of them say they are left with life-changing disabilities and are likely to lose income as a result.

The Department of Health said "there are lessons to be learnt" from Covid.

The group believe they were not provided with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) at work, which includes eye protection, gloves, gowns and aprons.

In particular, they say they should have had access to high-grade masks, which help block droplets in the air from patient's coughs and sneezes which can contain the Covid virus.

But the masks they were given tended to be in line with national guidance.

Rachel Hext, who is 36, has always insisted that she caught Covid in her job as a nurse in a small community hospital in Devon.

"It's devastating. I live an existence rather than a life. It prevents me doing so much of what I want to do. And it's been four years."

Her list of long Covid symptoms includes everything from brain fog and extreme fatigue to nerve damage, and deafness in one ear.

Solicitor Kevin Digby, who represents more than 60 members of the group, describes their case as "very important".

He says: "It's quite harrowing. These people really have been abandoned, and they are really struggling to fight to get anything.

"Now, they can take it to court and hope that they can get some compensation for the injuries that they've suffered."

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Source: BBC News, 6 March 2024

Related reading on the hub:

• Healthcare workers with Long Covid: Group litigation – a blog from David Osborn
• The pandemic – questions around Government governance: a blog from David Osborn