Almost 350 officers with Police Scotland are suffering the effects of ‘long Covid’, new figures have revealed.
According to the social affairs magazine 1919 statistics obtained under Freedom of Information rules, total of 345 employees recorded an absence under the ‘Covid-19 post-covid syndrome’.
This is used for anyone with a Covid-related absence of more than 12 weeks.
Symptoms of long Covid are tiredness, shortness of breath, loss of smell and muscle aches.
Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “Officers and staff showed outstanding professionalism and commitment to help keep people safe during the pandemic.
“Their health and welfare is one of Police Scotland’s main priorities and we have a range of mechanisms in place to support them, including the Employee Assistance Programme and the Your Wellbeing Matters programme.
“We also work with our occupational health provider to support police officers and staff in their journey back to health after a period of absence.”
MORE UK SECURITY NEWS
David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “The issues surrounding Covid-19 will be far-reaching for generations and we can only hope that the public inquiries both in Scotland and the UK wide will shine a light on these issues.
“We need to make sure that our governments and police services continue to help their police officers and staff as they come to terms with the impact that long Covid is having in their lives.
“The physical, mental and financial help that will be required in years to come needs to be a priority for them.
“We need to learn from where it went wrong and make sure that any mistakes are not repeated.”