Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Oct 25, 2024 1:56:11 GMT
Long Covid health workers pushing for trial date - Published Oct 23, 2024
By Emma Baines
A group of more than 290 healthcare workers, including nurses, who allege that they have developed long Covid as a result of their employers’ negligence, will be represented in court this week to try and progress their case to trial.
This is the latest step in legal action against a number of English NHS trusts and Welsh health boards that is being pursued by a group of healthcare workers who say they contracted long Covid when providing essential healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic.
They claim that their employers failed to provide them with adequate personal protective equipment to protect them from Covid-19 infection during the pandemic and as a result they continue to suffer serious health issues and are unable to return to work.
Lawyers for the group will be attending the Royal Courts of Justice in London today and tomorrow to argue for the judge to set trial dates without further delay.
Partner at GA Solicitors Kevin Digby, who is the legal representative of more than 100 of the claimants, said: “The plight of the claimants is serious. Each of them suffers from long Covid which has had a devastating impact on their lives and livelihoods.
“Many of the claimants have been unable to return to work at all as a result of their illness. Many of those who have returned to work are unable to work full-time hours.”
Mr Digby also said that a number of claims had been brought by the relatives of healthcare workers who have died.
At the High Court, Mr Digby said he would be seeking “meaningful progression of the claims”, and that on behalf of his clients he would be pushing for the judge to list the claims for a trial in 2025 or 2026.
Currently, the NHS trusts and health boards who are the defendants in the case have said that they are unwilling to go to trial while Module 3 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry is still underway.
The health workers said this stance was likely to extend their wait for a resolution by “some years”.
Rachel Hext is among the nurses with long Covid being represented by GA solicitors at the High Court this week.
She said that many of the healthcare workers involved in the claim had been forced into taking legal action to secure their futures, because no compensation scheme has been set up to support healthcare workers with long Covid.
This is in spite of a report from the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus published in March 2022, which recommended that the UK Government should launch a compensation scheme available to all frontline key workers currently living with long Covid.
In October 2022, Ms Hext was one of a group of nurses and midwives who launched the Keyworker Petition Campaign to demand that the government provide full compensation and a pension scheme for key workers who contracted long Covid during the pandemic.
Ms Hext said: “Despite calls for support and compensation, as well as media coverage of those impacted by the pandemic, nothing has changed.”
She added: “We continue to catch Covid and develop long Covid, for which there is little treatment and no cure. We are still ignored.”
By Emma Baines
A group of more than 290 healthcare workers, including nurses, who allege that they have developed long Covid as a result of their employers’ negligence, will be represented in court this week to try and progress their case to trial.
This is the latest step in legal action against a number of English NHS trusts and Welsh health boards that is being pursued by a group of healthcare workers who say they contracted long Covid when providing essential healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic.
They claim that their employers failed to provide them with adequate personal protective equipment to protect them from Covid-19 infection during the pandemic and as a result they continue to suffer serious health issues and are unable to return to work.
Lawyers for the group will be attending the Royal Courts of Justice in London today and tomorrow to argue for the judge to set trial dates without further delay.
Partner at GA Solicitors Kevin Digby, who is the legal representative of more than 100 of the claimants, said: “The plight of the claimants is serious. Each of them suffers from long Covid which has had a devastating impact on their lives and livelihoods.
“Many of the claimants have been unable to return to work at all as a result of their illness. Many of those who have returned to work are unable to work full-time hours.”
Mr Digby also said that a number of claims had been brought by the relatives of healthcare workers who have died.
At the High Court, Mr Digby said he would be seeking “meaningful progression of the claims”, and that on behalf of his clients he would be pushing for the judge to list the claims for a trial in 2025 or 2026.
Currently, the NHS trusts and health boards who are the defendants in the case have said that they are unwilling to go to trial while Module 3 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry is still underway.
The health workers said this stance was likely to extend their wait for a resolution by “some years”.
Rachel Hext is among the nurses with long Covid being represented by GA solicitors at the High Court this week.
She said that many of the healthcare workers involved in the claim had been forced into taking legal action to secure their futures, because no compensation scheme has been set up to support healthcare workers with long Covid.
This is in spite of a report from the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus published in March 2022, which recommended that the UK Government should launch a compensation scheme available to all frontline key workers currently living with long Covid.
In October 2022, Ms Hext was one of a group of nurses and midwives who launched the Keyworker Petition Campaign to demand that the government provide full compensation and a pension scheme for key workers who contracted long Covid during the pandemic.
Ms Hext said: “Despite calls for support and compensation, as well as media coverage of those impacted by the pandemic, nothing has changed.”
She added: “We continue to catch Covid and develop long Covid, for which there is little treatment and no cure. We are still ignored.”