United Kingdom News (including UK wide, England, NI and Wales - see separate thread for news from Scotland)

Disability charity is ordered to pay £150,000 to disabled employee with long Covid​


AI Summary:
A disability charity, Shared Lives South West, has been ordered to pay £152,745 to William Drysdale-Wood after a tribunal found he was unfairly dismissed and discriminated against due to his disabilities.
Drysdale-Wood worked as a shared lives coordinator from September 2015 until his dismissal in September 2023.
He had Crohn’s disease and was later diagnosed with long Covid and chronic fatigue syndrome.
After periods of sickness absence and a phased return to work, he attended two capability meetings in September 2023.
He was dismissed the day after the second meeting on the grounds of ill health.
The tribunal ruled that the capability process was “remarkably brief” and did not allow him to demonstrate improvement.
The judge found the charity could have used less discriminatory measures, such as tolerating limited absences, instead of dismissal.
The dismissal contributed to a deterioration in his health.
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I don't want to detract at the BACME letter topic, so asking here.

Jonathan Edwards said:
Absolutely, and advocacy groups calling for special mutidisciplinary ME/CFS services - just like what we have now "in the community" (which inevitably means cheap and useless). I think there may be some progress in getting these groups to see the problem. Maybe we shall see on Monday.
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Does anyone know if LC charities are aware of the problem? All I've seen in that space is complaining about the closure of LC clinics (or merging with ME/CFS services) while calling for multidisciplinary clinics providing holistic care. Given the aforementioned merging of the services, it's even more important that they are aware of the pitfalls.
 
Felis Catus said:
Does anyone know if LC charities are aware of the problem? All I've seen in that space is complaining about the closure of LC clinics (or merging with ME/CFS services) while calling for multidisciplinary clinics providing holistic care. Given the aforementioned merging of the services, it's even more important that they are aware of the pitfalls.
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This is a big problem I think. People with Long Covid are mostly still learning the ropes about service options and, yes, are just calling for multidisciplinary 'holistic' care. The clearer perspective comes from ME/CFS long haulers who have seen what happens over decades.
 
I suspect when people call for multidisciplinary clinics they are imagining seeing a range of doctors from different specialisms to investigate and treat their symptoms in different parts of the body.

They wait months or years, only to find it's an online group short course run by one of a random selection of a physio, OT or psych therapist all offering the same BACME style advice about sleep hygiene, pacing up and with a bit of breathing exercises thrown in.
 
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ca.news.yahoo.com

Long Covid patients are forgotten, ex-GP says

The NHS in the North East and Cumbria is closing its last dedicated long Covid clinics this month.
ca.news.yahoo.com ca.news.yahoo.com
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Long Covid patients are forgotten, ex-GP says​
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A doctor whose career was ended by long Covid said living victims of the virus were being forgotten by politicians and the NHS.​
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Susannah Thompson, 46 and from Blyth in Northumberland, contracted the virus in 2020 while treating Covid-19 patients, and within a year was using a wheelchair having had multiple medical problems.​

Dr Thompson has been mentioned previously in this post:
Haveyoutriedyoga

Post in thread 'United Kingdom: News from #There for ME'

Dr Binita Kane - Consultant Respiratory Physician, special interest in ME/ Long COVID, Manchester

Professor Carolyn Chew-Graham OBE - GP Principal and Professor of General Practice Research, Manchester

Dr Anna Porter - NHS GP, North Central London

Dr David Shakespeare - Consultant in Neurological Rehabilitation Medicine, Lancashire, Royal Preston Hospital

Dr Deepak Ravindran - Consultant NHS Pain Medicine, specialist interest in Long COVID, Berkshire

Dr Hollie Francis - GP Partner, Greater Manchester

Professor Amitava Banerjee - Consultant Cardiologist and Professor of Clinical...
  • Like
 
There is a Twitter trend on this:


Long Covid Leaves Former Doctor Wheelchair-Bound as Clinics Close
Last updated 3 hours ago
The 46-year-old from Blyth developed heart issues, pain, breathing problems, skin conditions, and cognitive challenges like memory loss after contracting Covid in 2020. She struggles with basic conversations and never expected to rely on benefits. As the North East's last NHS Long Covid clinics close this month, patients like her will shift to symptom-specific services, sparking criticism from advocates and MP Luke Akehurst who call the move misguided amid 94,000 cases in the region.
 
I am hugely appreciative that they are fighting for better research funding and more to be done for the Long Covid sufferers but only really the Liberal democrat showed any sign of clarity of thought and a hint they understood the actual issues. The clinics were mostly dreadful based on the old dangerous rehab model and patients slammed them. But the NHS as a whole is completely ignoring Long Covid patients entirely, its diagnosed a tiny number so it certainly isn't treating them in any way. I want my politician advocates to be better informed on the topic so they are pushing for the right things.
 
www.mirror.co.uk

I saw the trauma at Covid inquiry hearings - this must never happen again

As the raw emotion of the Covid-19 Inquiry draws to a close, Britain’s collective trauma must be used to stop this ever happening again, says the Mirror's Health Editor Martin Bagot
www.mirror.co.uk

I saw the grief and trauma at Covid inquiry hearings - this must never happen again​

As the raw emotion of the Covid-19 Inquiry draws to a close, Britain’s collective trauma must be used to stop this ever happening again, says the Mirror's Health Editor Martin Bagot​
…​
The inquiry has already concluded that 48% of deaths during the first wave - 23,000 of people who died - could have been avoided if lockdown had been brought in just a week earlier.​
 
Dr. Valeria Iodice announced the launch of the British Autonomic Society. Dr Valeria Iodice is a consultant in neurology and autonomic medicine and associate professor in neurology at University College London. Dr Iodice has been the clinical and academic lead of the autonomic unit at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London since 2013.

Dr. Iodice has some experience in Long Covid research. I'm not sure whether the BAS has any plans regarding ME/CFS and LC.
 
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Chandelier said:
Are people sicker now than in 2019?
Civil servants in England are.
Sickness absence rates have *risen by between 12% to 23% across the age groups*.
Are things getting worse?
It certainly looks like it.
This is exactly what we predicted repeat covid infection would do.
Click to expand...

Page by tern | @1goodtern.bsky.social

"This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet?" Healthy Life Expectancy at Birth Plummeting. It is a hideous scandal that they can publish a chart as obvious as this and not even mention the words 'covid infections'....
skywriter.blue

@Utsikt aaand… another one:

tern 6. March 2026​
"This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet?​
"Healthy Life Expectancy at Birth Plummeting. It is a hideous scandal that they can publish a chart as obvious as this and not even mention the words 'covid infections'.​
​
bafkreifjslymcviogejuqv7ringmrbixmaqsauo6z22qay7rpjxay2zzui@jpeg
It's going to fall further too, just as the actual age at which people dies has also fallen and is continuing to fall.​
So you die younger, and you become unhealthy younger.​
​
Graph.jpeg​
​
The state of denial is acute. I don't want to share a link to the story, because it's just so painfully uninformed, but here it is.​
Better they're talking about the effects of covid infections and not mentioning covid infections than not talking about the effects of covid infections.​
​
www.theguardian.com

This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet? | Aditya Chakrabortty

The news that healthy life expectancy is in decline in Britain exposes a serious truth about the state we’re in, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
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Chandelier said:

Page by tern | @1goodtern.bsky.social

"This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet?" Healthy Life Expectancy at Birth Plummeting. It is a hideous scandal that they can publish a chart as obvious as this and not even mention the words 'covid infections'....
skywriter.blue

@Utsikt aaand… another one:

tern 6. March 2026​
"This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet?​
"Healthy Life Expectancy at Birth Plummeting. It is a hideous scandal that they can publish a chart as obvious as this and not even mention the words 'covid infections'.​
​
bafkreifjslymcviogejuqv7ringmrbixmaqsauo6z22qay7rpjxay2zzui@jpeg
It's going to fall further too, just as the actual age at which people dies has also fallen and is continuing to fall.​
So you die younger, and you become unhealthy younger.​
​
​
The state of denial is acute. I don't want to share a link to the story, because it's just so painfully uninformed, but here it is.​
Better they're talking about the effects of covid infections and not mentioning covid infections than not talking about the effects of covid infections.​
​
www.theguardian.com

This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet? | Aditya Chakrabortty

The news that healthy life expectancy is in decline in Britain exposes a serious truth about the state we’re in, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
Click to expand...
To save people bothering to read the Guardian article, it's about politics and the decisions politicians make on funding public services, not about the effect of Long Covid on people's health and ability to work. Long Covid doesn't even get a mention.
 
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