Before the pandemic, Imogen Phelan started work as a nanny at 7am. Her mornings would fly by in a flurry of preparing breakfasts, packed lunches and school runs for her own two children and those she cared for.
During the day, 42-year-old Phelan did domestic work for her employer before school pick-up time rolled around. Homework and cooking dinner followed, before she finally left for home at about 8.30pm.
Two years later, Phelan can do at most an hour of paperwork, sitting down, a day — and some days not even that. She caught Covid-19 in March 2020 and has never fully recovered. She still experiences intense fatigue, cognitive issues, chest pain, joint inflammation and chronic tinnitus.
Phelan, who lives in Winchester, is one of
