One in five doctors with long COVID forced to stop working or cut back hours
Doctors who contracted COVID-19 on the frontline and are still living with the ongoing symptoms of the virus have been left in financial limbo as they struggle to return to work.
The British Medical Association (BMA) found one in five doctors with long COVID had been forced to stop work or significantly cut back on their hours.
Dr Amy Small had been a GP partner in Edinburgh.
She contracted COVID-19 in April 2020 but her symptoms persisted and snowballed.
Dr Small told Sky News: “In the first six months to a year and a half, daily I had awful fatigue to the point I couldn’t eat because my jaw was too sore because chewing made my muscles hurt.
“I had headaches and I had a daily fever for seven months. I still get fevers very easily if my kids catch colds. I had tinnitus, I had awful aches and pains in my body, I was so breathless I couldn’t walk up the stairs without stopping once or twice for many months.”
After six months off work, she eventually lost her job because her condition left her unable to keep up.
“It was devastating, my husband also had long COVID, at the time that I lost my job his pay was halving, my roof was leaking, I had to pay for a kid in full-time nursery and we risked losing everything at that point. I thought we were going to lose our house, we were really facing really really challenging times.”
Dr Amy Small missed months of work after suffering with long COVID
The BMA surveyed some 600 doctors, with 48% saying they’ve experienced loss of earnings as a result of long COVID symptoms.
The BMA say those medics need support while they recover.
Professor David Strain, chair of the BMA’s board of science, told Sky News: “We cannot afford to have fully trained, very able staff, not able to do the job they’ve been trained for at this moment, it’s a disaster in a health service that is very short-staffed already.
“There are many doctors who’ve actually retired on health grounds – and feel they’re not able to work at all and that in order to be able to get back to work going forward they need to be given additional support – but there are many others who are way too young to have a retirement plan in place but are too unwell to return.
“They need to be able to be given the financial support to allow them to focus on getting better whilst they’re in this position.”
Dr Small moved to Sheffield where she now works as a part-time GP and for a charity.
She says she’s in a considerably better state than when she first contracted the virus but still has some health complications.
“The symptoms were endless like many others and it comes back now and again.”
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Dr Small says this is far from an issue in the past – long COVID continues to take so much from so many.
“So many of us are still ill, many of us have lost our jobs and their houses and their livelihoods, and they’re not likely to get them back anytime soon so this isn’t a past problem, it’s a very live problem which is going to have ongoing consequences for many years.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told Sky News: “Long COVID can have a debilitating impact and we are backing our world-leading scientists with over £50 million to better understand the long-term effects of this virus and make treatments available.
“NHS staff are able to seek support for long COVID from their GP or one of the 100 specialist clinics available nationwide. The NHS has also committed £324 million to support people with ongoing symptoms of long COVID.”
Sir Keir Starmer has joined other European leaders in Kyiv to press Russia to agree an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
The prime minister is attending the summit alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, recently-elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
It is the first time the leaders of the four countries have travelled to Ukraine at the same time – arriving in the capital by train – with their meeting hosted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz travelling in the saloon car of a special train to Kyiv. Pic: Reuters
Leaders arrive in Kyiv by train. Pic: PA
It comes after Donald Trump called for “ideally” a 30-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, and warned that if any pause in the fighting is not respected “the US and its partners will impose further sanctions”.
Security and defence analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News presenter Samantha Washington the European leaders are “rowing in behind” the US president, who referred to his “European allies” for the first time in this context in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“So this meeting is all about heaping pressure on the Russians to go along with the American proposal,” he said.
“It’s the closest the Europeans and the US have been for about three months on this issue.”
Sir Keir Starmer, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron among world leaders in Kyiv. Pic: AP
Trump calls for ceasefire. Pic: Truth Social
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies are ready for a “full, unconditional ceasefire” for at least 30 days starting on Monday.
Ahead of the meeting on Saturday, Sir Keir, Mr Macron, Mr Tusk and Mr Merz released a joint statement.
European leaders show solidarity – but await Trump’s backing
The hope is Russia’s unilateral ceasefire, such as it’s worth, can be extended for a month to give peace a chance.
But ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian sources told Sky News they are still waiting for President Donald Trump to put his full weight behind the idea.
The US leader has said a 30-day ceasefire would be ideal, but has shown no willingness yet for putting pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin to agree.
The Russians say a ceasefire can only come after a peace deal can be reached.
European allies are still putting their hopes in a negotiated end to the war despite Moscow’s intransigence and President Trump’s apparent one-sided approach favouring Russia.
Ukrainians would prefer to be given enough economic and military support to secure victory.
But in over three years, despite its massive economic superiority to Russia and its access to more advanced military technology, Europe has not found the political will to give Kyiv the means to win.
Until they do, Vladimir Putin may decide it is still worth pursuing this war despite its massive cost in men and materiel on both sides.
“We reiterate our backing for President Trump’s calls for a peace deal and call on Russia to stop obstructing efforts to secure an enduring peace,” they said.
“Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.”
Sir Keir and Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in March. Pic: AP
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Putin’s Victory Day parade explained
The leaders said they were “ready to support peace talks as soon as possible”.
But they warned that they would continue to “ratchet up pressure on Russia’s war machine” until Moscow agrees to a lasting ceasefire.
“We are clear the bloodshed must end, Russia must stop its illegal invasion, and Ukraine must be able to prosper as a safe, secure and sovereign nation within its internationally recognised borders for generations to come,” their statement added.
“We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine.”
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The European leaders are set to visit the Maidan, a central square in Ukraine’s capital where flags represent those who died in the war.
They are also expected to host a virtual meeting for other leaders in the “coalition of the willing” to update them on progress towards a peacekeeping force.
Military officers from around 30 countries have been involved in drawing up plans for a coalition, which would provide a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire being agreed between Russia and Ukraine.
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This force “would help regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces after any peace deal and strengthen confidence in any future peace”, according to Number 10.
A special constable has been jailed after taking pictures on his phone from bodycam footage showing a dying man.
Former police volunteer William Heggs, 23, was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment at Leicester Crown Court on Friday after showing the photos of victim William Harty, 28, to a female colleague and storing them on his Snapchat account.
Mr Harty was found seriously injured in a residential street in Leicester on 25 October 2021 and Heggs had attended the scene, helping with CPR before paramedics arrived.
Mr Harty died in hospital a day later and the man responsible for his injuries, his brother-in-law Martin Casey, was subsequently convicted of his manslaughter.
Heggs showed the pictures he had taken of bodycam footage of Mr Harty’s body to a Leicestershire Police constable, who reported Heggs and said she did not like seeing blood.
His phone was seized and officers discovered other photographs and video clips of bodyworn footage of incidents Heggs had attended on duty, including of a knife seizure, use of baton and pepper spray, and a man with an injured hand receiving first aid.
He also took pictures of a police computer screen, showing details of crimes and suspects, without consent.
Heggs stored the materials in a Snapchat folder and disclosed graphic details – most of which were not in the public domain – about the injuries to a woman who was killed in a road traffic collision he had attended, to a friend on the social media platform.
Heggs was suspended from the force in November 2021 and resigned in October 2024 before pleading guilty to 11 computer misuse and data protection offences this March.
William Harty’s widow Mandy Casey. Pic: PA
‘He has traumatised me’
Mr Harty’s widow, Mandy Casey, said in a victim impact statement read to the court that Heggs “took (her) husband’s dignity when he was most vulnerable”.
“You don’t take someone’s dignity and pride from them on their deathbed.”
She continued: “When I found out special constable Heggs had done this, I just wanted to ask why. He has traumatised me. I feel I will never know if he showed them to others.”
Ms Casey said she was still scared that photos of her husband’s body might appear on social media.
She added that she had lost trust in the police.
Public trust in police ‘significantly undermined’
Judge Timothy Spencer told Heggs, who has autism and ADHD, that he was “probably too immature to be working as a police officer” as he handed down the sentence.
He said Heggs had received “extensive training”, including on the importance of data protection, and knew he should only share materials for “a genuine policing purpose”.
Heggs’s actions had “significantly undermined” public trust and confidence in police, according to the judge.
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Malcolm McHaffie, from the Crown Prosecution Service, added: “William Heggs abused the public’s trust in the office he held as a special police constable.
“He violated the dignity of the deceased victims for no apparent reason other than what could be considered personal fascination and to gain credibility among his peers.”
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