Over a million more people are out of the UK workforce due to sickness than in 2020: PwC

18 comments

1. Definitely noticed people out for longer (months at a time) in my office.

2. People are sick of it all, work is not paying as it did and people are absolutely shattered.

3. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what long covid really means.

   I know several people who have taken months to get back on to an even keel, and even then they don’t feel ‘right’

   Though perhaps it’s not long Covid and the timing is just coincidence,

4. Makes sense, long term effects of covid are real and the virus still affects so many thousands every year. More people are genuinely suffering mentally and physically than I’ve ever come across in my life, work doesnt pay enough and expects too much, benefits are being cut left right and centre, support is being denied constantly, barely anyone can get a doctors appointment on the day they call. Dentist? Who is she? Things are bad for such a huge number of people, sickness is to be expected.

5. Its almost like:

   1 – We had a pandemic that seriously affected the health of a lot of people. Even if it isnt as serious as long covid, there have been other impacts like Asthma etc.

   2 – It has become incredibly difficult to get healthcare at an early stage for lots of things so you have to wait until they get worse before you get anywhere, but that obviously takes you out of work for longer.

   3 – We are still catching up on previously underdiagnosing all sorts of conditions, both mental and physical.

   4 – Given everything (pandemic, cost of living etc), those who were on the edge but just about coping before have likely been pushed over that edge into not coping now.

6. I wonder if anything happened during that time that caused lasting damage to people’s health?

7. What’s the as a %? How much workforce we workforcin’ with here?

8. I got covid last year in Jan, recovered from the initial infection but about 3 months later I ended up very ill and was hospitalised. Was out of work for 2 months in total with a slow phased return until the end of the year. Hematologist looked at my blood results and thought I had AIDS. Pretty much back to normal now, one year on. It can really fuck you up even if you’re young with no underlying conditions. Don’t expect much help from doctors either.

9. It’s called Long Covid.

10. COVID + barely tested vaccines

11. I’m 54 and haven’t been able to work for four years. I started going to my GP when I was 17 asking (and eventually begging) them to help me, as I had many symptoms which impacted my life hugely. I continued to ask for help for the next 30 years. At 47 I was (privately) diagnosed, along with family members, with a serious genetic condition. It turns out that if I’d got fairly inexpensive treatment (specialist physio) even ten years earlier, I’d still be able to work now, albeit part time. Instead I was told I was mentally ill and imagining it all. I’ve read and heard firsthand about many people with similar experiences. That’s why I’m on benefits, and if anyone ever tells me I’m a scrounger they get my full story, and I ask them how they suggest I should be able to do differently. There’s never an answer.

12. People have worked out they can get money for not working, it’s a social contagion. I don’t actually believe we are that much sicker as before. Untold amount of police are on full pay sick leave. It’s just a non stop gravy train.

13. People realised whilst on furlough just how good life is when you don’t have to work but get paid anyway. The spell was broken and now people want to carry on not having to work and still getting paid.

14. It’s hard to know what’s going on. The problem I see it is its incredibly easy to write it all off as lazy sods…its easy to say the country is a mess.

    I suspect its in the middle.

    I do think that everything has a consequence. We’ve normalised mental health issues to such an extent that maybe we over diagnose? I dunno.

    But there is also a case that We’ve made it almost ‘cool’ to be a victim or a minority or oppressed in some way.

    So I think these things together may contribute to increased sickness.

15. You can get signed off by Drsick.co.uk for a quick easy price! So people just do this then go drs – also people gettin so shafted why bother – it’s all demoralising – can you believe England pretends to be a super power when the majority of its people live in squalor and poverty – absolute joke

16. This is so unsustainable

17. This is at least partly due to ridiculous NHS waiting times and the fact that GP’s are burnt out and have too many patients.

    I have several medical issues at the moment. Two of them are severe enough that I’ve had to get reasonable adjustments through work. Both of them require surgery to fix.

    I also had to fight for a referral for other medical issues that have been causing severe fatigue, brain fog, inflammation and joint pain.

    I’ve been waiting three years for one surgery. The other one, my GP referred me a year ago and I’m yet to even see a hospital specialist. I estimate at least 2 years wait once I do.

    One other specialist referral was a year ago and counting and the other is 6 months in with an expectation that it’ll be at least a year before I see anyone. I’ve spent over £1000 of my own money on private tests to try and speed things up.

    I’m also 6 years into an ADHD waiting list.

    I’m just one person. If my health issues had been dealt with promptly I’d be able to work at full capacity, I’d have done a couple of qualifications and gotten a promotion and thus be paying more tax.

    Instead I’ve spent three years struggling and treading water, barely able to make it into work, never mind be a productive employee.

    Real-terms cuts to NHS funding, failure to increase the number of GP’s, loss of community care services, cuts to councils…. people haven’t stopped being sick or old. This is a direct result of austerity forcing more and more people into situations like mine.

18. There is no evidence from medical data that there has been any increase in illness, the fact is it’s much easier to game the system when they switched to online interviews and since COVID they no longer check if people can return to work.

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