Long COVID is a newly emerging medical condition arising from contracting (and often fully recovering from) COVID -19. Approximately 1 in 10 people continue to experience the effects of COVID beyond 12 weeks. It has been likened to other post-viral illnesses such as ME or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Symptoms are wide and varied but typically include anxiety, breathlessness, headaches, memory loss, “brain fog”, aching joints, extreme fatigue. We know this is being taken seriously, as the Government have put £18.5 million into funding research into Long COVID with 69 specialist clinics throughout the country.
As an employer, how do you support a member of staff who is struggling with Long COVID? You will probably need some medical advice to determine how your employee is affected and to what extent. This will help you to establish if the employee can return to work, if not then when, if so then what are the anticipated limitations to this and associated adjustments. Your occupational health provider should be able to provide this information to you following a consultation. The general advice is that returning to work can be beneficial and help overcome feelings of anxiety and depression. It can also help to rebuild stamina and strength. However, this may need to be done gradually and over an extended period of time. Regular check-ins can help to monitor wellbeing and ensure that workload is in-keeping with levels of recovery. It would be wise to consider the use of any annual leave to extend a phased return period if this can be agreed. Employers are asked to be as flexible as possible to support an employee with their recovery from Long COVID, they will recover but it may take some time.
Our practitioners are trained to assess remotely (via phone/video) and reports are completed in exactly the same way via our secure online portal. Completing our referral form is quick and easy and it’s designed to support you to ask the right questions to generate a detailed report. If you would like more information about our Occupational Health service or HR advice on this subject please contact us. You may also be interested in taking a look at how our staff absence management software is helping schools and trusts to track absence due to COVID. Why not book onto our next SAM demo.
