A claims firm has unveiled a group action by healthcare workers who contracted Covid-19 while looking after sick patients.
Liverpool-based Bond Turner announced its intention to bring actions against NHS trusts, registered practices and any other applicable government bodies for alleged failure to protect frontline workers during the pandemic, and failure to support them in the subsequent years.
The firm is working alongside support group Long Covid Doctors for Actions (LCD4A) and is believed to have had enquiries from hundreds of potential claimants. Instructions have been taken from doctors living with post-Covid complications, who have signed up to the claims on a CFA basis.
Sara Stanger, director and head of clinical negligence and serious injury claims at Bond Turner, said that healthcare workers exposed to Covid-19 are still living with devastating and life-altering effects, with financial implications for those who have been absent from work for a prolonged period.
‘After speaking with LCD4A, we were shocked to hear the harrowing stories from members of the group’, said Stanger.
‘We now stand with healthcare workers suffering from the long-term effects of contracting Covid at work and we are committed to seeking justice for those who were exposed to an unnecessary risk of infection while working on the front line.
‘We are encouraging all healthcare workers who believe they may have been affected to come forward and join the action as soon as possible, so there is sufficient time for their claim to be fully considered and investigated.’
Dr Kelly Fearnley, chair of Long Covid Doctors for Action, said NHS employers are failing to facilitate people’s return to work after an extended phased return and in some cases they are being dismissed. Having lost their careers and livelihoods, the option of legal action was the only available route.
‘From the start of this pandemic, UK healthcare workers have been risking their lives and health caring for Covid patients without adequate protection,’ she added. ‘A significant number are now disabled following preventable occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and are being managed out of the door with no support system in place and without means to financially support themselves and their families.’
