The Northern Echo is looking at a series of special reports looking at the fragile state of our care sector. In the second in the series we look at how low pay is affecting the number of people working in the sector

A HOME carer who spent more than a fortnight in intensive care after catching Covid-19 says he is still trying to pay off the debts he incurred while off sick.

The worker, who did not want to be named in case it affected his job, said he had been admitted to James Cook University Hospital for 17 days last year, including 15 days in intensive care.

He provides domiciliary care to people in Middlesbrough and has worked as a carer for four years, though he looked after his mother as an unpaid carer for 10 years before that.

He said: "I almost died of covid. It didn't look good. I was in the ICU for 15 days in May and I'm still not 100 per cent. I still get bouts of breathlessness and I'm lucky if I sleep through the night. I can be doing fine and then all of a sudden I'm completely out of breath. It's horrible."

The carer, who told the Northern Echo he was given a five per cent chance of survival at one point, ended up taking six weeks of work but said he felt he had to go back before he was completely better due to mounting debt.

He said: "There was no help when I was ill. I was off for about six weeks. I got sick pay but it's not a lot when you're trying to run a house.

"The choice was going back to work or getting more into debt."

He added: "I'm still paying off debt from May. I was getting £96 a week but that didn't event pay rent, let alone food or council tax. The company did up sick pay a little so I was getting £600 a month bit even that didn't come close to covering the outgoings.

"I was just getting into a good place but getting ill put me back to square one. It was really difficult to be honest.

"It would be good if there was more support. I was told after that I should have signed on for universal credit but that's not what you think about at the time."

The worker, who lives with his girlfriend, who is also a carer, said he was "petrified" of passing the virus to another member of their household and the couple had been trying to isolate within their home prior to falling ill.

He added the pandemic had made some people he knew in the sector rethink their careers. He said: "Morale is usually pretty good because we all love our jobs. But sometimes it feels like we're banging our heads against a brick wall because we're going out and doing things and sometimes it seems like there is no thanks.

"It does affect people's mental health when we're doing our jobs and there's no thanks."

He added: "It was a difficult job to start with but it's been made harder by the pandemic. I think it will scare people away. I know some people who have left simply because they couldn't take it."