The impact of long COVID on UK healthcare workers and their workplace: a qualitative study of healthcare workers with long COVID…, 2025, Al-Oraibi+

SNT Gatchaman

SNT Gatchaman

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The impact of long COVID on UK healthcare workers and their workplace: a qualitative study of healthcare workers with long COVID, their families, colleagues and managers
Al-Oraibi, Amani; Tarrant, Carolyn; Woolf, Katherine; Nellums, Laura B.; Pareek, Manish

Healthcare workers (HCWs) have been particularly impacted by long COVID, with negative effects on their work patterns and wellbeing. The aim of this study was to explore the intersection between work and long COVID for HCWs, to understand the impact of long COVID on their professional identify, their orientation to work, their wellbeing as professionals, and support needs and strategies for them as well as their managers to continue to work.

This qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured online interviews with three groups: HCWs with long COVID, their support network members, and healthcare managers between March 2023 and May 2024. To maintain confidentiality and address concerns about workplace stigma, healthcare managers were not matched with specific HCWs. Participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling, until data saturation was reached, defined as the point at which no new insights or themes were identified. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

A total of 42 participants were interviewed from three groups, comprising 24 HCWs, five support network members, and 13 healthcare managers. Four key themes were identified describing experiences of long COVID for HCWs: (1) Living and coping with long COVID as a HCW, (2) Workplace impact and adjustments, (3) The uncertain nature of long COVID and challenges of the definition, and (4) Feelings of guilt, stigma and blame.

In conclusion, long COVID has created significant challenges not only for HCWs but also for their managers, who struggled with staffing shortages and lack of clear guidance, and support network members who experienced emotional strain while providing care.

The combination of these challenges threatens NHS workforce stability and service delivery. Developing and embedding flexible, standardised workplace interventions—such as phased return-to-work policies and tailored occupational health support—could mitigate these impacts and inform scalable solutions across diverse healthcare systems. Enhanced training for healthcare managers and further research into culturally diverse coping mechanisms could improve support for affected HCWs, reduce stigma, and contribute to a more stable and resilient healthcare workforce. While based in the UK, these findings offer important insights for health systems globally that are grappling with the long-term workforce implications of long COVID.

Link | PDF (BMC Health Services Research) [Open Access]
 
HCWs with long COVID experienced profound feelings of guilt due to their prolonged absence, reduced capacity to work, and the additional burden placed on colleagues. Many felt a strong sense of personal responsibility to continue working despite debilitating symptoms. Managers recognised this internalised guilt among their staff and attempted to reassure them, but HCWs often struggled with the pressure of wanting to contribute while physically being unable to do so.
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Despite reassurance from managers, employees still carried a personal burden, feeling the need to explain and justify their inability to return to work. This guilt was compounded by the invisible nature of long COVID symptoms, such as fatigue and brain fog, which made some employees feel misunderstood. These feelings of guilt were not necessarily a result of direct pressure from their workplace but were self-imposed by employees who were used to being high-performing, particularly in healthcare roles.
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Although many HCWs reported supportive environments, with colleagues who were understanding, others faced scepticism or negative attitude, leading to a perception by managers that they were being seen as “workshy or opportunistic”. This scepticism created an environment where HCWs felt stigmatised for taking time off to recover from long COVID, even if they were genuinely unwell. They felts the pressure to justify their illness and convince their colleagues of its existence created further pressure on them as they felt they were judged hardly at the workplace. In some cases, the stigma was subtle, manifesting as gossip or cynical remarks about whether the illness was legitimate. Additionally, some HCWs felt the need to justify their absence due to long COVID to avoid being seen as faking or exaggerating their symptoms.
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Kalliope said:
The paper suggests several measures to improve matters for HCW with LC, but it seems protecting them from the infection generating the illness is not among them.
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I don’t understand how this is possible. They are able to acknowledge the devastating effects of previous infections, but unable to acknowledge that future infections might do the same.

It’s like talking about lung cancer from smoking without considering a ban on smoking. Oh, wait, most countries do that as well..
 
Kalliope said:
at least people are informed about the harms of smoking. But that took quite a long battle as well.
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Most importantly: laws and regulations have made it easy to avoid second-hand smoke and other coerced expositions to it. This, higher insurance premiums and other things is likely what made the most difference. As we've seen with COVID, most people generally don't care much about most risk factors to themselves. Only some. Some others to absolute zeal, not much related to how significant the risk is. It's really weird. We are such a weird species.
 
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