‘Long Covid’ sick pay scheme to end in move that will impact 120 healthcare workers

A dedicated sick pay scheme for people suffering from the effects of “long Covid” is due to end in two weeks’ time in a move which will affect around 120 healthcare workers.

In July 2022 the Government introduced a temporary scheme to provide special leave with pay for eligible staff suffering with the symptoms of long Covid, such as fatigue and exhaustion. While the scheme was previously extended following approval by the Department of Public Expenditure, it will now end on March 31st. The Department of Public Expenditure has told the Department of Health that no further extensions will be granted.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said any employee in the public health sector who remains unwell after the end of this month can seek support from the public service sick leave scheme. That scheme provides full pay for three months, followed by half pay for three months. After this workers can apply for temporary rehabilitative remuneration which, if granted, could provide up to a further 547 days of paid leave.

The Department of Health said that around 118 public health service employees will be affected by the decision to end the scheme, and said they will have received an individual notification of this from their employer in recent weeks.

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Independent TD Denis Naughten said he had proposed that long Covid be recognised as an occupational disease, but this was rejected by the Government. He said the symptoms of the illness can be “debilitating”.

He has urged the Government to reconsider its decision to terminate the special leave entitlement for frontline health workers. Mr Naughten said that “frontline workers were publicly commended in Dáil Éireann during the pandemic for risking their lives, as well as their families’, to deliver essential services. They cannot now be overlooked when they require our support.”

New research published by Australian medics last Friday said long Covid may be no different from other post-viral syndromes such as those experienced after flu.

The lead author of the study, Queensland’s chief health officer Dr John Gerrard, said it was “time to stop using terms like long Covid” because they imply there is something unique about the longer-term symptoms associated with the virus, and in some cases create hypervigilance.

At a press conference Dr Gerrard said: “I want to make it clear that the symptoms that some patients described after having Covid-19 are real, and we believe they are real. What we are saying is that the incidence of these symptoms is no greater in Covid-19 than it is with other respiratory viruses, and that to use this term ‘long Covid’ is misleading and I believe harmful.” – Additional reporting Guardian

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