NHS staff suffering with Long Covid fear they will be plunged into poverty after the Scottish Government decided to halt unlimited sick pay.
Many people are still struggling with the condition more than two years after the initial infection.
But health workers say the halting of the open-ended sick pay for Covid next month will force them to food banks.
From August 31, pre-Covid sick leave arrangements will apply.
For many, that will mean six months of full pay and six months on half pay. Newer staff members will get less.
One ambulance worker was off work for more than a year and is still struggling to return to full duties because of breathlessness.
The worker, who asked not to be identified, said: “I would have gone on to half pay after six months. I don’t know how I would have survived.
“It was really quite frightening seeing how you could get that seriously ill without any previous medical history at all.
“I did try to return to work after a few months off but, by the time I climbed the stairs at a patient’s house, I was so out of breath I couldn’t do anything so occupational health signed me back off.
“If people get Covid now or are reinfected and develop Long Covid they are really going to suffer financially.
“As well as feeling ill, they will have the added money stress.
“We will be seeing more health workers at food banks. I don’t think this is the way to treat NHS workers who have been on the frontline throughout the pandemic.”
Union leaders at GMB and Unite called on the Scottish Government to reconsider its decision.
They argue Long Covid is not yet fully understood and NHS staff should not be penalised.
GMB Scotland organiser Karen Leonard said: “It’s clear that we remain in the grip of Covid-19 and ahead of what looks like a very challenging winter period the pressure on our exhausted NHS staff shows no signs of easing.
“It makes no sense for the Health Secretary to take the NHS off an emergency footing or to remove the sick leave support measures in place for workers suffering with Long Covid.”
Esther O’Hara, a regional officer at Unite, said the union had “huge concerns” over the decision.
She pointed out that a number of workers currently suffering with Long Covid “could easily have been infected at work”.
She added: “It’s a pretty shoddy way to treat people who’ve worked so hard through the pandemic.
“We don’t really know what Long Covid is. Will people always have it if they have it now? Will they gradually get better?
“Will they suddenly get better? Could they be fit enough to return to the workplace eventually? We just don’t know.
“Until we have a better picture of what Long Covid is going to be, we should continue with the Covid arrangements for NHS staff – not least because of what so many staff have done during the pandemic to look after and support the public.They were doing their bit to look after people who were poorly but now these staff have Long Covid themselves it seems grossly unfair of the Government to rescind the step they took on sick pay.
“Covid has not gone away, cases are on the rise and could morph again into a more serious strain.
“We do understand that the sick pay arrangements are very costly but what are we saying to NHS workers about how the government values them?
“Banging pot lids on a Thursday night for NHS workers because you have nothing else to do then pulling the rug from under them shows how genuine the sentiments were.”
Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “I know many health and social care workers suffering from Long Covid who are not getting any assistance and now they could potentially be hounded out of their jobs through no fault of their own. The Scottish Government needs to rethink this decision.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Since November 2020, NHS staff absent due to Covid have been entitled to full sick pay without time limit.
“Following the standing down of NHS Scotland from an emergency footing on April 30, this special leave provision will end on August 31 and staff will move on to their contractual sick leave entitlement.”
