AN INVESTIGATION is being launched to examine the long-term impact of Covid-19 on healthcare workers from African and Caribbean backgrounds

The three-year study, which will be overseen by the NHS Race and Health Observatory, builds on the data collected from the UK-REACH study that previously looked at how NHS staff of ethic minority heritage have been impacted by the pandemic.

Over 18,000 healthcare workers from a range of ethnicities took part with around a quarter of them becoming infected by the virus, was obtained between December 2020 and July 2021.

The research, which is set to be analysed alongside updated data to reflect participants’ ongoing feedback, will look at the effects of long-Covid minority ethnic healthcare workers.

Dr Habib Naqvi, director of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said he was “delighted” that research will taking place to better understand the most vulnerable groups in society.

“People from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds have shouldered a disproportionate burden in the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are increasingly concerned that history is repeating itself in the case of long-Covid,” he said.

“Black, Asian and minority ethnic healthcare workers, who make nearly 25% of NHS staff, are at high risk of Covid-19 infection and adverse outcomes.

“The ongoing mental, physical and occupational impacts of long-Covid on healthcare staff and on patient care are as yet unknown.

“Urgent research is needed to aid the recovery of the healthcare system and this programme of work will help to support that.”

Through questionnaires, structured interviews and focus groups, researchers will look at how long-Covid – defined as having symptoms that continue or develop after acute infection from the virus – affects people including those who are symptomatic with Covid between 4 to 12 weeks and having post‑Covid‑19 syndrome for 12 weeks or more.

The availability of support and effectiveness of various treatments for managing its various stages will also be under scrutiny.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, an estimate of around 1.2 million people in the UK have experienced long-Covid symptoms.

They range from extreme fatigue, lack of smell and taste and joint pain, to heart palpitations and memory loss.

Professor Katherine Woolf at UCL Medical School, said: “We urgently need to find out how best to support healthcare workers with the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“REACH-OUT builds on the unique UK-REACH questionnaire cohort study, which 18,000 healthcare workers have already taken part in since its launch in December 2020.

“The REACH-OUT study will follow-up these healthcare workers to discover how many of them have long-COVID, how this is affecting them, and how they can best be supported.

“A quarter of NHS staff, and nearly a third of the study’s participants are from ethnic minority groups. Unfortunately they have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, so it’s especially important to find out how they can be supported to recover.”