Covid-19 and long covid stripped me of my old life. I used to be active, academic and loved life; now, I struggle with basic household jobs, cannot work and struggle even to wash my hair. 

I caught Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic, working as a midwife in a hospital. I was playing my part in the national effort to defeat the virus. Health care professionals up and down the country worked on the front line putting their lives at risk to care for others. We worked with limited PPE and were short staffed. We supported patients in the most difficult and desperate times, at huge personal cost - moving out of our homes and being exposed constantly to covid, before vaccinations. 

The Government called people like me a “hero”. They clapped for nurses, doctors, paramedics, midwives, porters; all health and social care staff. 

But now the Government has taken away my sick pay. We don’t get sick pay for new Covid-19 infections anymore and can no longer access sick pay for the purpose of self-isolation. Healthcare workers are the worst affected by long covid with 3.3% reporting ongoing symptoms more than four weeks after their initial infection. What the Government gains in savings from removing our sick pay can never make up for the losses of people leaving the NHS for good. 

Covid-19 and long covid are recognised illnesses, that a doctor has to certify, so they deserve sick pay like any other illness. It’s a slippery slope if we start to scrap sick pay - what next, no sick pay for cancer? 

Covid sick pay from the NHS would mean the chance to recover and get back to work sooner. The stress of worrying about how we’ll survive while we’re off work will make my recovery worse. Without it, we’ll either be forced back to work when we’re not ready, which is unsafe for us and unsafe for patients, or we’ll be plunged into poverty.

Hardworking healthcare staff kept the country safe during the pandemic, and now all we’re asking is to be kept safe while we recover from Covid-19 too.  

So please, you clapped for us at 8pm on a Thursday evening, please sign this. NHS staff deserve sick pay while suffering from Covid-19 and long covid.