Work and vocational rehabilitation for people living with long covid

Dear Editor

As a specialist vocational rehabilitation coach for senior doctors, I am delighted to see this publication. I have helped many senior doctors to rehabilitate into their medical roles following long covid, though I am aware that for every doctor I have worked with, there are hundreds more who are still struggling to recover, as well as hundreds of thousands of other employees.

As with other safety-critical professionals, many senior doctors face additional barriers in returning to work from long covid. I believe that this article will be useful for patients, and hope that it will also be used by managers to enable them to learn how to support workers returning to the workplace.

There is a body of psychological science which can be used to augment the recovery and rehabilitation of a wide range of occupations. A Chartered Coaching Psychologist can undertake formulation and psychological intervention plans, and work with the clinical team if needed to enable the best outcomes for the worker at what can be a professionally distressing time for employees who have been out of work for months or years.