UK BMA and RCN ask Government to recognise Long COVID as an occupational disease
Unions representing Doctors and Nurses in the UK are asking the government to recognise the long term impacts of COVID-19 on health and care workers.
“The UK Government needs to act quickly and provide support now to the many doctors and nursing staff, and their families, who have suffered significant financial losses as a result of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace and then developing Long COVID.”
Hospital Guidance: Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM) - Care Requirements
CLINICAL WARNING: When the patient is in PEM, any extra activity (sitting up, walking, answering questions) can worsen symptoms, reset recovery, and accelerate long-term decline. Strict protection of rest is required.
Overnight Care Guidance
Lighting and Noise: Keep the room dark and silent overnight. Avoid unnecessary door openings. Use minimal light if checks are required.
Sleep Protection: Do not wake for routine observations unless clinically essential. Cluster any checks to reduce disturbance.
Environment: Ensure call bell, water, and medications are within reach before settling for the night.
Communication: Avoid questions or conversation if the patient wakes. Speak quietly and keep interactions minimal.
Escalation: If pain, tachycardia, or instability occurs, respond calmly, minimise sensory exposure, and escalate as clinically indicated.
Documentation: Overnight staff should record sleep protection strategies and PEM episode status at shift start and end.
Personal Care - Showering and Hygiene
Daily shower prompts are not required. Please be guided by the patient as to when capacity allows.
General Principle: Patient will indicate readiness for washing or showering. No need to prompt daily. Frequency: Showering may be limited to once a week or less during severe PEM. Over-exertion can worsen symptoms.
Alternatives: Patient may use wet wipes or gentle seated wash in lieu of shower as tolerated.
We set out to make our ‘invisible illness’ visible in South Africa with SICK Pride
"Those of us who are so severely disabled by ME and Long COVID that we are rarely able to leave our houses — or even our beds — suffer from an invisibility so total, most people are completely unaware of our
existence. We may not have strength in our bodies, but we certainly have
strength in numbers… We don’t have to be passive, when we are this
massive"
USA News10 ABC Meet the Americans who still take COVID-19 precautions seriously
On clinically vulnerable patients (including an ME patient and a carer) shielding from Covid-19. Researcher Leonard Jason says trauma is part of the experience of chronic illness, and then there's additional traumatisation by the societal reaction to the illness. Researcher Akiko Iwasaki is also taking precautions and says: "I just can't afford to get sick and become chronically ill".