Health Retirement of NHS staff diagnosed with long Covid and associated illnesses: FOI release

Information requested

Information regarding NHS Scotland staff who contracted Covid and as a result were diagnosed with long Covid as well as other associated illness of a result of Covid, broken down into associated illnesses:

1. How many staff have applied for ill health retirement?
2. How many staff have had a successful claim for ill health retirement and at what stage was it granted?
3. How many staff have been declined ill health retirement?
4. How many staff have been given ill health retirement for an ME/CFS diagnoses?
5. How many staff had to appeal the decision?
6. Are there certain medical conditions that automatically mean you are granted ill health retirement other than a terminal diagnoses?
7. If so can you send me details?

Response

Questions 1 - 5 are covered by the attached spreadsheet. Please see explanatory notes for the spreadsheet below.

The spreadsheet covers only NHS scheme members who applied for an ill health retirement between 1 January 2020 – 31 December 2023. These have been recorded at the time of submitting the application to our medical advisor. The interim guidance (IG) process was tested in 2021/2022 and fully implemented from 12 September 2022. The IG process provides all members who would receive either a rejection or a lower-tier with the possibility to provide further medical evidence. The medical advisor provides a detailed list of further evidence required to reassess the ill health application. As a result of this process the amount of Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) applications received by SPPA has reduced. The IDRP process allows members to formally appeal the outcome through our Policy team.

Lower-tier is the base level while upper tier is an enhanced award. In both the 1995 and the 2008 sections of the NHS Superannuation Scheme (Scotland) and the NHS Pension Scheme (Scotland) 2015, lower-tier awards are based on all the accrued service (with no reduction for early retirement) at the time the award is made.

For upper-tier awards, the enhancement that’s paid in addition to the lower-tier benefit is up to two thirds of the prospective service to normal pension age in the 1995 and 2008 Sections or up to half your prospective service to State Pension age in the 2015 Scheme.

Members with a life expectancy of less than a year can convert all the ill-health benefits into a one-off, tax-free lump sum payment. This is referred to as 'terminal' on the spreadsheet.

SPPA records a specific list of illness categories, please see full list below:

• Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Complications of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Puerperium
• Congenital Abnormalities
• Diseases of the Blood and Blood forming organs
• Diseases of the Circulatory System
• Diseases of the Digestive System
• Diseases of the Genito-Urinary System
• Diseases of the Musculoskeletal system
• Diseases of the Nervous System and Sense Organs
• Diseases of the Respiratory System
• Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue
• Endocrine, Nutritional & Metabolic Diseases
• Infectious & Parasitic Diseases
• Injury and Poisoning
• Mental Disorders
• Misc (Specify)
• Neoplasms
• Symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions
• Long COVID

The medical advisor would provide the category for the main illness/reason based on the ill health application. In some occasions they would provide two categories at most. Therefore the breakdown of Covid and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) only includes the cases that have been determined as the main illness/reason.

Question 6 - There are no medical conditions which automatically grant an ill health award. All ill health applications are submitted to our medical advisor for review.

Question 7 - Not applicable. Please refer to the response for question 6.

About FOI

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FOI202400403270 - Information Released - Annex

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