Request

I believe the above scheme needs to be put in place urgently. Can you please answer the following questions:

1. How many people have applied to you for Ill Health Retirement with Long Covid?

2. How many people have been rejected for Tier One and/or Tier Two levels of IHR when applying with Long Covid?

3. What evidence (listing guidance and research evidence) are being used to reject or confirm applications for IHR with Long Covid?

Response

Question 1 & 2

A copy of the information is attached.

Question 3

Each Scheme Medical Adviser (SMA) is expected to adopt evidence-based practice in arriving at a decision. They do this by combining the following:

1. Medical evidence provided in the Scheme member’s application,

2. Further medical evidence that the SMA may have requested from the Scheme member’s treating healthcare professionals,

3. Information that the employer may have provided in Part A of Form AW33E (e.g. demands of the work duties, any workplace adjustments tried, and the effectiveness of such adjustments),

4. Information that the Scheme member may have provided in Part B of Form AW33E (for example, how long COVID affects them),

5. Current medical literature on long COVID,

6. And the SMA’s occupational health expertise.

When assessing ill-health retirement applications from scheme members who have long COVID, the SMA might consult the following guidance and research evidence:

• The Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM): ‘Long COVID and Return to Work – What Works?’ (https://www.som.org.uk/sites/som.org.uk/files/Long_COVID_and_Return_to_Work_What_Works_0.pdf)

• The Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM): ‘Guidance for healthcare professionals on return to work for patients with post-COVID syndrome’ (https://www.fom.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/FOM-Guidance-post-COVID_healthcare-professionals.pdf)

• Occupational and Environmental Medicine (academic journal of the FOM: https://oem.bmj.com)

• Occupational Medicine (academic journal of the SOM: https://academic.oup.com/occmed?login=false)

• Industrial Injuries Advisory Council publication: ‘COVID-19 and Occupational Impacts’ (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1119955/covid-19-and-occupational-impacts.pdf)

• NICE: https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/long-term-effects-of-coronavirus-long-covid

• Nature. An example of a recent publication in this journal is Davis, H., McCorkell, L., Vogel, J. M., & Topol, E. J. (2023). Long covid: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 21(3), 133-146. Full text available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2

• British Medical Journal (BMJ)

• Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

• The Lancet

• New England Journal of Medicine

In summary, the SMA is expected to adopt an individual approach to each case and use careful clinical judgement when applying the medical research literature and guidance to the specific medical circumstances of a Scheme member with long COVID.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

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The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2023” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

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