These CPD activities, collated by OHW+ CPD editor Professor Anne Harriss, relate to the OHW+ webinar ‘Long Covid – a catalyst for greater multidisciplinary working’.
Long Covid is a new syndrome and there is currently very little empirical evidence on which to base clinical care.
Consequently, in order to effectively support those living with the condition, there is an urgent need for health care professionals generally, and those working in occupational health specifically, to recognise the signs and symptoms associated with this condition and to devise strategies to address these.
The following activities are designed to further inform you on the challenges those with long Covid face to inform the OH care you provide.
Long Covid
CPD: Long Covid – a catalyst for greater multidisciplinary working (webinar)
One in three have long Covid symptoms after coronavirus infection
How will long Covid affect the provision of occupational health services?
Activity 1
Reflect on the contents of the webinar you have watched. Think how it relates to your practice within occupational health then consider how you would support a worker who hopes to return to work whilst coping with the challenges that long Covid presents.
Read the article ‘Diagnosis, and Management of Patients with Post COVID-19 Condition (‘Long COVID’): A Delphi Study’, which was published in August 2021 in the British Journal of General Practice. It provides recommendations for the recognition, diagnosis and management of patients with long Covid.
Activity 2
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) produced a report in 2021 detailing workers’ experiences of long Covid. A number of interesting recommendations are made within this report including:
- specifying that long Covid be considered as a disability within the provisions of the Equality Act 2010
- universal access to occupational health services
- strengthening access to flexible working.
Read and reflect on the content of the TUC report. Based on the experiences of these workers with long Covid, consider the impact on occupational health care.
Activity 3
These links will take you to the SOM (Society of Occupational Medicine) where you can access a podcast relevant to supporting a worker living with long Covid.
Activity 4
Access these additional resources, websites and suggested reading:
SOM resources and tools
SOM Covid-19 return to work guide: for recovering workers
SOM Covid-19 return to work guide: for managers
‘Urgent need for occupational health for people with long Covid’
‘Perspectives on long Covid and work: experts by experience’
Websites
Long Covid Support
Covid:aid
Long Covid Scotland
Additional reading
Faculty of Occupational Medicine Guidance: ‘Guidance for health care professionals on return to work for patients with Long Covid’
Independent SAGE report on long Covid
Editorial on management of the worker with long Covid. Rayner C and Campbell R. ‘Long Covid Implications for the Workplace’. Occupational Medicine Journal
World Physiotherapy briefing paper on long Covid
Nature: ‘Count the cost of disability’
BMJ editorial: Delaney B, Rayner C, and Sivan M. ‘Fresh evidence of the scale and scope of Long Covid’
BMJ opinion piece: ‘Patients’ experiences of “Long Covid” are missing from the NHS narrative’
BMJ opinion piece: ‘Covid-19: Prolonged and relapsing course of illness has implications for returning workers’
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BMJ opinion piece: ‘We have heard your message about Long Covid and we will act, says WHO’
Occupational Medicine editorial: ‘Long Covid Implications for the workplace’
