A Glasgow nurse with nearly 30 years of NHS experience has said she was "sacked" due to being unlikely to recover from Covid she caught at work.
Brenda Eadie had attempted to go back to work after a terrifying brush with the virus which left her in the hospital in need of oxygen but couldn't cope due to her symptoms.
The 45-year-old has now had her employment with the health board terminated and has been left with no word on her NHS pension and no money ahead of Christmas, the Daily Record reports.
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Brenda Eadie was employed by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHSGGC) at several hospitals over 28 years. She took up a post in a prison eight weeks before catching covid at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
She said: “We had no proper PPE at the start and we had to keep taking our masks off because of prison security. I didn’t feel safe.”
Brenda was in hospital on oxygen for two days but was sent home with a nebuliser because there were not enough hospital beds. She became unable to get out of bed for four weeks. She managed to return to work that August but collapsed two months later and went off sick again.
She put in a request for a transfer back to a hospital setting and did a few shifts on a ward in Glasgow while waiting, but couldn’t cope. A brief secondment working from home for Trace and Protect ended in November 2021 when her brain fog worsened. Her hands are also affected.
The nurse accepted she would be unable to return to work because of debilitating long covid, but she had expected the health board would have sorted her pension before terminating her employment.
She said: “I had agreed to take retirement due to ill health but at no stage did I think I would be sent a letter terminating my employment with immediate effect and pointing me in the direction of the benefits office. I have been left with no money right before Christmas.”
Brenda added: “I am absolutely disgusted with the way I have been treated. The Scottish Government should have something in place for people like me, after all this is an industrial injury.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We recognise how debilitating Long Covid is for many people across Scotland and sympathise with those affected. From the start of the pandemic, NHS Scotland staff absent due to Covid-related symptoms received full pay under temporary Special Leave measures until August 31 this year - nearly two months after England and Wales.
“At that point staff returned to their contractual sick leave entitlement, which for the majority meant a further six months of full pay followed by six months of half pay.”
A spokesman from NHSGGC said: “While we do not discuss the individual circumstances of any of our staff, past or present, especially if health issues have arisen, we always ensure that all appropriate processes are followed in relation to matters regarding staff employment.”
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