It is truly shocking to discover that nurses suffering from long Covid are facing real hardship. For months we stood on our doorsteps every week and applauded them for their dedication and bravery in going in to work to help care for Covid-19 patients.
But today, when those same nurses are suffering from long Covid after picking up coronavirus in the workplace, they are left to fend for themselves. The special leave full pay they were granted when struck down during the early years of the pandemic is over.
Now, nurses have been forced to revert to contracted six months’ full pay and six months’ half pay. After that, their wages stop – leaving many penniless. One nurse is faced with having to sell her home while another has already had to take medical retirement as her symptoms are so bad she knows she can never return to her career.
There will be many ambulance staff, police officers, shop assistants and other essential workers in a similar position. But this hasn’t happened by some random piece of bad luck.
They were essential workers who put themselves and their families at risk on the frontline for us and must not suffer long-term consequences. Long Covid needs a proper and immediate response and resources to help care and provide for sufferers.
There is no doubt those who contracted Covid at work should have their illness classed as an industrial injury to enable them to claim proper compensation. Morally, it is the very least they deserve. Clapping for them will not make them well again, pay their rent or feed their children.
We’re all to blame
The Record’s Our Kids ... Our Future campaign was prompted by a torrent of online videos showing children being attacked. Fuelled by a hunger for online “likes”, attacks on teenagers are filmed then uploaded for entertainment.
We called on social media giants to apply rules and ensure this content is removed from platforms such as TikTok. We also demanded extra funds so that every community has places for kids to go to steer them away from street violence.
But another key demand in our campaign was for our readers, and all adults, to take care of young people in communities. That’s why pictures, published in the Record today, of a violent incident outside a school in Fife are so alarming.
Images show an adult female screaming abuse as two girls fight. The grown woman even encourages one of the girls to carry out acts of violence.
This shocking incident illustrates that tackling youth violence is not just about children’s behaviour, it’s something we all need to address.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
