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AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE expert has called for an educational campaign for doctors, employers and businesses to support people with long Covid, after some patients were accused of exaggerating their illness.
Infectious disease consultant at the Mater Hospital, Professor Jack Lambert, said there is a belief among the public and the medical community that long Covid patients are making up their illness.
Lambert said that brain scans of people with long Covid show they have brain inflammation among other symptoms.
The disease expert has also called on the Government to provide more resources and treatment for people suffering from the illness and the variety of symptoms.
Lambert told the Oireachtas health committee that some patients have chronic fatigue syndrome as part of their long Covid.
“So many patients have been told there’s nothing wrong with them and just to exercise more,” he added.
“I think that in some communities, both in the general public and in the medical community, there’s the belief that these patients are making up their illness, if they just try harder and be mindful they’ll get better.
“But the reality is most of the patients I took care of are health care workers who never missed a day of work in their life.
“They never missed a day at work in the ICU. They worked long shifts and here they are coming down with Covid from an infection they caught in the hospital.
“Two years later they’ve done everything they possibly can, including private care to get help and they’re basically told there’s nothing wrong with you, just exercise more, be mindful, and that doesn’t work for this condition.
PET scans, brain scans of long Covid patients from research studies have shown there’s brain inflammation there, patients are not making this up.
“It’s real. It’s all in their head, there’s damage to the brain, and that’s really what the focus should be on.
“There should be an educational campaign for employers, occupational health doctors, businesses, to support these patients because they are not making up the problem.”
Lambert also called on the Government to change its long Covid plan, saying the current one is letting patients down.
“We have known this for 18 months based on accumulated scientific damage that brain damage is the issue with long Covid,” he added.
“We need a new plan and new resources and staffing to support these patients to recover and return to being contributing members of society.”
A study carried out by Lambert on patients with long Covid found they had brain fog, cognitive issues, exhaustion, sleeplessness and psychological issues that they did not have before.
“They also had blood pressure, pulse thermoregulation problems, a kind of dysautonomia, which is abnormal signalling of the vagus nerve.
“You recall the patients with Covid get damage to the nerve one and two, which is smell and taste.”
He said he had “no idea” of the number of people impacted by long Covid in Ireland.
Lambert also said that the Department of Health should publish the number of people who present with long Covid.
He told the committee that about a third of patients have significant symptoms after one year of recovering from Covid-19.
“About 1 to 5% of people are still disabled with long Covid after one year, to the point that they’re not able to function as they were prior to them contracting the infection a year before,” he added.
“I also mentioned that probably everybody in Ireland has got Covid and some of them got it twice. So there’s probably five million people have got Covid and even if 1% of those are at risk for getting long Covid, that’s a large population of people who are being disabled by this virus.”
He added: “I think we have to move around the resources.
“So my ideal programme would be having a centre that has neuro-rehabilitation specialists and neurologists working in a multidisciplinary clinic with infectious disease doctors, a range of psychologists because that’s been a significant problem, and that’s been under resourced in terms of the current plan.”
He has also called for GPs to be trained on how to look after people with long Covid, saying there is a need for a network of local doctors to look after patients in their own area.
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Inefficient way of working. Lots of people just staying for the social life. Much prefer the German approach of shutting the office down- if you can’t do your job from 9-5 something’s wrong – go home and relax and contribute to your community.
If only all companies were like this.
Some companies work people to the point of burn out.
This happy go lucky workplace at Google etc is purely a way of keeping people in work longer and only socialising with colleagues.
Throw in the fact that they’re main targets are CS grads who might be a bit socially challenged and you have willing victims at the ready.
Software development is a very stressful and demanding job. Providing a relaxing atmosphere helps productivity.
Only stressful and demanding if badly managed. American companies think they own you so they don’t have to plan correctly, they’ll just throw more people at the problem whether it’s working until 4am or weekend work at regular rates.
These environments are fine when you’re young – the craic is great and you don’t mind working the hours if you get free drinks nights etc. however it breeds bad habits in management and workers. Just my experience.
Agreed – the American way of working is based on working long hours rather than doing your job well – its also very short term driven because of the bonus culture – it has led to biggest recession in recent memory
Modern IT is a 24hr culture. It’s not possible to do everything in the old style 9-5 workday. Software deployments and batch tasks tend to have to run outside these times. If people want a 9-5 job with handy money and promotions based on length of service etc, then IT is the wrong place to be.
“Modern IT is a 24hr culture.”
That’s not true. I work in IT, I arrive 10-15 mins late in the morning, and I am gone to catch the Luas at 5:32pm
Why not mix it up some days, and arrive 10-15mins early, and then go to catch the luas at 5.02pm. Keep people guessing
I like the cut of your jib, maybe I’ll even take it a step further and get the bus home. I’d be the talk of the office.
Anything that touches IT is like this. I just quit my job in IT recruitment, working 7:30 to 21:00 every day and then some on the weekends, take lunch at desk while working, it’s insane. Life is for living, not making other people rich mannnnnnn.
Though at 21:00 we did play some sick table tennis!
@cpm the fact that you are freely admitting to arriving late every morning and leaving at the same time each day suggests you are the work shy sort. Also you travel via public transport with the great unwashed which suggests you don’t earn enough to owe a car. I think you ought to work harder and you’ll achieve more, otherwise you’ll still be stuck at the java in your 60s.
Oh dear me, Jon! So many assumptions in such a short paragraph. Anyway, the reason I get the Luas is because it’s about 10x quicker than driving in the city centre. So maybe I’m just more efficient with my time than you are – this probably explains your 24hr work schedule.
“otherwise you’ll still be stuck at the java in your 60s.”
- let me guess, – you’re one of “those guys” who could never get their head around programming LOL
A lot of people actually choose to stay programming long into their careers, – it keeps the brain ticking over unlike a lot of other activities, and the challenge depends a lot on the complexity of the problem at hand.
Table tennis not ping pong.
Unfortunately for every Google, there are 3 places who just want to grind 10 hours a day of hard slog out of employees. ESP call centers (which aren’t it jobs). People want to work where they are valued, more likely to happen in a small business than a sprawling multi national. Not a huge shock of a survey in fairness.
Your right Paul,
Some horrible companies to work for out there.
When times are good, these companies won`t hire enough staff and people will have a high workload.
When times are bad, these companies will fire a lot of people, will then not have enough staff, people will have a higher workload, lower pay, and put in crazy hours for fear of being the next person to be fired.
Meanwhile some of the directors jump ship with payoffs close to a million quid. Not naming companies but these things happen.
Imagine the uproar if public sector workers got free haircuts, swimming pools, lounges and ping-pong tables.
Just saying.
Imagine the shock if the government that hired the public sector workers posted quarterly profits in the billions thus being able to afford the pools and nice lunches…
If IT companies are earning exorbitant profits like this doesn’t it mean we’re all overpaying for IT services?
To be honest, ill work with whoever pays me the most and offers the best T&Cs. Startups are definitely interesting but often can’t compete on wages. Young IT professionals will move around a bit.
Sitting round cuddling office dogs, playing ping pong and sitting in ‘creative spaces’ with nerds all day sounds like my idea of hell.
Office dogs sounds cool.
Don`t knock table tennis, great game.
WOOF
Some of the irish start ups are cowboy setups – people looking to make a quick buck and little interest in developing staff
Companies outside the IT sector need to take note. People perform better and you get better results if you have a fun environment and atmosphere to work in.
Lol!!! It’s not our fault we chose the right career path
I worked for two start-ups, both went out business at a moment’s notice, while the wages in start-ups with funding can be higher, the security just isn’t there, and if you have a mortgage that’s not a great thing. I’d be very happy to work for Google!
have your say