‘I feel abandoned,’ says nurse forced to medically retire on low income after suffering with long Covid

Finola O’Brien outside Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda. She is not eligible for a special scheme set up at the start of the pandemic which would have allowed her to get medical leave on full pay. Photo: David Conachy

Eilish O'Regan

A nurse who contracted Covid-19 at work says she feels abandoned after her health was devastated by long Covid forcing her to take medical retirement and a low income.

Finola O’Brien (60), from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, was working in her “dream job” as a diabetes nurse specialist between Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, and Louth County Hospital when she was struck with Covid on February 18, 2022.