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Nurses’ COVID-19 deaths ruled as industrial disease by coroner

Campaigners hope ruling will pave way for better financial support for nurses and other healthcare workers unable to work due to long-COVID

Campaigners hope ruling will pave way for better financial support for nurses and other healthcare workers unable to work due to long-COVID

Nurses Gareth Roberts and Dominga David, who died after contracting Covid-19

The deaths of two nurses from COVID-19 being ruled as industrial disease by a court is a ‘step in the right direction’, campaigners have said.

Health unions and campaigners have long been calling for COVID-19 to be classified as an industrial disease by the UK government, in order to provide better financial support for workers affected by it.

This month South Wales Central coroner’s court ruled the deaths of nurses Gareth Roberts and Dominga David from COVID-19 as industrial disease. Senior coroner Graeme Hughes found they were most likely to have contracted the virus from colleagues or patients while working at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board hospitals.

‘Pay more attention to how we look after nurses’

Long Covid Nurses and Midwives UK action group chair Alison Twycross told Nursing Standard she hoped the ruling would provide more protection for nurses and other healthcare workers who contract the disease.

‘I do think this ruling supports the need to pay more attention to how we look after nurses and other healthcare workers,’ she added.

RCN hopes ruling will have ‘positive consequences on other cases’

The RCN said the finding was ‘significant’ and an ‘extremely positive step’ in classing COVID-19 as an industrial disease.

Leona Cameron

The college’s head of health, safety and wellbeing Leona Cameron said: ‘It is thought to be the first case in which COVID-19 contracted in a healthcare setting has been formally recognised as industrial disease and could potentially have positive consequences on other cases.’

Ms Twycross said the classification of COVID-19 as an industrial disease had the potential to improve support for nurses unable to work due to long-COVID.

She called on the government to reconsider its decision to scrap COVID-19 sick pay.

‘I hope that the ruling, in time, will lead to there being ongoing financial support for nurses and other healthcare workers with long-COVID who aren’t fit enough to return to work,’ she added.

The right to benefits and compensation

Classifying COVID-19 and long-COVID as an occupational disease would trigger healthcare workers’ rights to claim benefits and compensation if they are diagnosed with the condition.

The Department for Work and Pensions, which runs the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council, has been contacted for comment.


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