FOM offers updated long Covid return to work advice

To continue reading please register or login to your OHW+ account.

Updated guidance to help occupational health professionals, employers and line managers support employees with long Covid to return to work has been published by the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM).
The guidance, developed by a multi-disciplinary team including occupational health physicians, academics and psychiatrists, aims to help facilitate the return to work for employees who might find their symptoms difficult to manage.
Symptoms of post-Covid syndrome – often known as long-Covid – which might impede an employee’s return to work, include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, and neurocognitive impairment.
Not only can these symptoms affect an individual’s ability to carry out their tasks, but they might also impede their travel to work, which is particularly pertinent now that government advice to work from home where possible has ended.
Recent research from the CIPD and Simplyhealth found that almost half of organisations have employees who have experienced long Covid in the past 12 months, with a quarter now including it among their main causes of long-term sickness absence.
Last month, the Office for National Statistics estimated that one in 50 people in the UK were suffering with persistent Covid symptoms.
Professor Ira Madan, academic dean at FOM, said: “Post-Covid syndrome is a challenging illness for healthcare professionals and employers to manage. This guidance provides practical steps aimed at supporting the worker back into employment.”