New data from the RCN's member advice line shows it has received thousands of calls since January 2022 from nursing staff seeking help with long Covid. The college says these figures are likely the tip of the iceberg with many more suffering in silence.

The UK government's Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) recommended in November 2022 that Covid complications be recognised as having been acquired at work, giving staff more routes to access vital Industrial Injuries and Disablement Benefits.

In a letter to the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions Liz Kendall, unions representing the UK's nursing and doctor workforce describe the failure to act on the IIAC recommendations and prescribe the disease as occupational as a ‘betrayal', urging the government to take action.

In the letter, RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger and BMA chair Professor Phil Banfield, say: 'Healthcare workers who contracted long Covid are facing monumental health struggles, with many forced out of their jobs and into early retirement. This has been devastating, not only to their professional pride but also to their personal finances.

'After years of dedicated service, they must jump through hoops to access benefits, spending retirement funds that should have been saved for later in life. For healthcare workers to be treated this way, considering their key role during the pandemic, amounts to a deep betrayal—and must be rectified.'

In addition, the RCN has written to the chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, urging it to question the government as to why it has not acted upon the IIAC recommendations.