Union: Law should see long Covid as disability

LONG Covid should be legally recognised as a disability, a teaching union has said.

Around 81,000 people in Scotland are now living with long Covid, with teachers and education support staff the second most likely profession to be affected, only just behind healthcare workers.

The debilitating condition can lead to lasting organ damage, impairment of mental processing, and extreme fatigue and shortness of breath that can cause exhaustion after even minor activity.

Many sufferers report that their daily activities are severely impeded, leaving them unable to work.

Now the NASUWT union wants the Scottish Government to allow flexible working, access to ill-health retirement and financial compensation for teachers who cannot teach as a result of contracting long Covid at work.

Such compensation already exists for NHS workers whose careers have been prematurely ended by the effects of long Covid.

NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: ‘Teachers have stepped up to the front line of this pandemic and have put their health at risk to educate our children and young people.

‘The result has been that for some, they are now experiencing the lifechanging impact of long Covid.’

He said that with continuing high case rates, ‘more teachers could still be vulnerable to developing this condition and find themselves unable to work, at threat of financial hardship and without sufficient legal protections’.

Dr Roach added: ‘No teacher experiencing long Covid should be forced to live in this fear.

‘We are calling on the Scottish Government to support our push for long Covid to be recognised as a disability under the Equality Act, which will secure legal protections, support and reasonable adjustments at work for teachers living with the condition.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We recognise the impact that long Covid can have on the physical and mental wellbeing of those affected and we are working to ensure people have access to the support they need for assessment, diagnosis, care and rehabilitation.

‘To support this we have established a £10million Long Covid Support Fund.’

Earlier this month, the charity Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland warned that long Covid patients have not been given the treatment they desperately need.

It launched a support service in February aimed at working with GPs but says it cannot get in touch with patients due to ‘NHS bureaucracy’.

The Scottish Government has so far refused to commit to specialist long Covid clinics, saying that patients should be treated according to individual symptoms, such as respiratory problems.

‘Teachers have put their health at risk’