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Feature Covid-19
https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj.p1983
BMJ 2023; 382 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p1983 (Published 20 September 2023)Cite this as: BMJ 2023;3821983
https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj.p1983
Long COVID: the doctors’ lives destroyed by an illness they caught while doing their jobs
BMJ 2023; 382 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p1983 (Published 20 September 2023)Cite this as: BMJ 2023;3821983
Linked Opinion
As a doctor with long covid, I feel abandoned by the NHSUnable to work or to play with their children, forced to sell their homes or facing insolvency—doctors with long covid deserve more support from the government and the NHS, writes Adele Waters
When Kelly Fearnley first stepped on to a surgical ward as a doctor at Bradford Royal Infirmary in August 2020 her head was still buzzing with delight at having finally achieved her dream of qualifying in medicine.
As a mature student she had financed herself through a medical degree by working shifts as a pharmacy assistant. Now, aged 34, she was ready to get stuck into her foundation training.
Early months were spent dealing with emergency surgical patients but by autumn, as the second wave of covid-19 struck, the hospital opened several covid wards and she was deployed to work on one of them.
She remembers: “I walked onto the ward full of covid patients to find only plastic pinnies and flimsy blue surgical masks. I’d expected long sleeved surgical gowns and FFP3 masks. I remember asking a senior nurse where the other masks were. She replied, ‘These are the ones we’re using now.’
“I spent 10 hours a day for five consecutive days surrounded by infectious patients so I was subjected to high viral loads on a ward with no ventilation and an absence of respiratory protective equipment.
“It was essentially a covid soup.”
The next week Fearnley tested positive for covid-19, and three weeks later she became severely unwell. She hasn’t worked since. Because of long covid, Fearnley has been forced to relinquish her provisional registration and is currently not able to work as a doctor.
“I’m living with my dad—which is obviously not where you want to be at 37 years old—and my ability to earn a living has been taken away. I’ve opted to take a 12 month career break in the hope of recovering sufficiently to return to training, but my long term career is at risk.
“All my plans to work, save, and buy a house have been shelved.”
Fearnley co-founded a support network in August last year with fellow doctor Shaun Qureshi after meeting others in the same position on social media. Long Covid Doctors For Action (LCD4A) campaigns for greater recognition of long covid and its impact on doctors’ health and careers.
“Some doctors have been forced to sell their homes and a growing number face financial destitution,” she says.
One in 25 healthcare workers affected
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