Latest news with #FionaWalsh
Irish Times
30-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Long Covid: ‘I'm only in my 30s, but I'm not the person I was in December 2020′
When Fiona Walsh contracted Covid-19 in January 2021, she had no idea how much her life would change. Her symptoms at the time were quite moderate, she says, beginning with the expected loss of taste. She qualified as a nurse in 2009, and began working at a Cork hospital between then and when she contracted the virus. 'I didn't know back then – four years and six months ago – that that would be the last time I'd work,' she says. Since her infection with the virus, Walsh has battled long Covid – a syndrome, characterised by the persistence or development of symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness and muscle weakness, attributed to Covid-19. READ MORE 'My quality of life is poor. I'm only in my 30s, but I'm not the person I was in December 2020. I've lost my career, which is a big identity loss,' she says. 'It's crippling, the fatigue. I have brain fog which would be quite severe. I forget things; I leave taps on, I mix up my own medications. Nobody wants a nurse with brain fog. I have nerve pain, muscular pain, palpitations. As the years have gone by, I worry this is as good as it is going to be. At the moment, we are very much in limbo.' In the past three years, her recovery has 'plateaued', she says, 'but the bad days vastly outnumber the good days'. In December 2022, the Government introduced a special payment scheme for healthcare workers living with long Covid. The scheme, which was introduced as a temporary measure, has been extended a number of times but was due to finish at the end of June. Late on Thursday evening, the Labour Court recommended a final extension of the current special scheme for healthcare workers living with long Covid to run up to December 31st, 2025, which the Government accepted. The Government said 159 Health Service Executive and Section 38 – or public service disability – organisation staff are currently on the scheme and in receipt of full pay. [ My battle with Long Covid: I was in disbelief. Was I making it up? How could I not stand up while the kettle boiled? Opens in new window ] From the start of 2026, anyone still in receipt of payment under the scheme should transition to the Public Service Sick Leave Scheme, the court said. Walsh is one such beneficiary of the scheme; she says she believes it should be available indefinitely to healthcare workers. Waiting to hear whether it would be extended once again was a 'horrible, stressful day', she says. 'We did what was asked of us and we went to work but we got sick at work and we are now paying the price with our health,' she says. 'We are obviously very, very grateful for the news [of the extension] but the hope is now that the Government will follow the rest of Europe as identifying Covid as an occupational illness.' Olivia Barry is another nurse based in Co Cork who contracted the virus through work in December 2020. Over the course of her 20-year-long career, she used to work 12- or 13-hour shifts. She walked a lot and sometimes ran, she recalls. 'Now, some days it's difficult to get out of bed. I've lost a part of myself. We worked so hard to become nurses and for our career, and when that's taken away from you, that's soul destroying,' she says. 'We followed all policies and procedures that were in place but unfortunately they didn't protect us. So we've contracted Covid prior to there being vaccines available.' Barry says she is grateful to the Government for the extensions to the scheme in recent months. 'But each time those extensions end, we're left on a cliff edge with such uncertainty. Like, how are we going to pay our mortgages? Once December happens again, we're back to square one.' 'I go up the stairs on all fours to conserve energy' - Ireland's ignored health crisis Listen | 24:18
Irish Examiner
27-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Extension of special sick pay scheme grants 'temporary relief' to nurses with long covid
Nurses affected by long covid have said they are grateful and relieved a special pay scheme has been extended for another six months with some now in their fifth year out of work. The Labour Court has recommended a final extension to December. It had been controversially due to expire this week. Fiona Walsh, a nurse living in Donnybrook, Cork, has been ill with long covid since January 2021. She has seen little change with time, saying: 'it's been very disheartening'. 'We are very grateful for the six month extension. It's a welcome relief,' she said. She and 158 other eligible staff had 'a very stressful day' on Thursday, waiting for the decision, she added. 'It's a temporary relief though, to be honest, as we all remain too unwell to return to work,' she said. She supports a call from health unions for covid and long covid to be recognised as an occupational illness. This could lead to better supports. Ms Walsh was one of a group of staff who met Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Friday. 'We presented to him the reality of living with long covid which we contracted while working on the frontline,' she said. 'He listened to what we presented him. He appreciates the work we did and is fully aware of the implications of long covid. He was very understanding and emphatic. We are so thankful he gave us his time.' The Labour Court decision means after December 31 eligible staff can only transfer to the Public Service Sick Leave Scheme. The Department of Health said Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill supports the decision, and will ensure the extension happens. The ICTU Group of Healthcare Unions welcomed the decision and repeated its desire to see covid-19 and long covid recognized as occupational illness. ICTU chairman Albert Murphy said this would place Ireland in line with other EU countries. 'Healthcare workers with long covid went to work when everyone else was told to stay at home during covid and are still suffering the consequences that come with a huge physical and mental cost,' he said. Mr Murphy, also Irish Nurses and Midwives Director of Industrial Relations, called on the Government to take action. Other unions in ICTU who support the move are Siptu, Forsa and the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association. Labour health spokeswoman Marie Sherlock said Ireland is one of only two EU countries which does not recognise covid in this way. 'I have had many health workers express to me their enormous stress and anxiety about how they will pay their bills, mortgages, and look after their families,' she said. She added: 'It is appalling that high court costs are wracked up by a case that workers felt they needed to take and that time was spent by department officials fighting trade unions at the Labour court.' Read More Online hospital dashboard lets public view a wealth of current Irish health data
