Covid-19: Unions seek compensation for infected health staff

The Government is facing pressure from a number of trade unions to put in place a compensation package to support more than 7,600 healthcare workers who have contracted Covid-19.

The trade union Siptu said all such staff must be compensated for loss of earnings - including premium payments such as for weekend or unsocial hours work - arising from illness as well as for the costs of all on-going medical care into the future.

Siptu said that not all healthcare workers were employed by the HSE and many worked for private nursing homes or agencies or voluntary organisations where sick pay arrangements may not be as developed as in the State sector.

Siptu health division organiser Paul Bell said the medical bill which the State should pay included the cost of counselling services. He said it was feared that many health workers would develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of the pandemic.

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Fórsa, the largest public service union, said it would be seeking compensation for any loss of salary or ongoing medical costs incurred by staff who had contracted the virus.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) said it also wanted such an arrangement put in place by the Government.

A spokesman for the PNA said no nurse or frontline healthcare worker should be out of pocket as a result of contracting Covid -19

Fórsa’s head of health Éamonn Donnelly said: “Under provisions in place since the outset of the pandemic, health workers who contract the Covid-19 virus, or who are self-isolating on medical advice, have received basic pay including fixed allowances from day one. Fórsa believes any worker who contracted the virus at work and suffers ongoing loss of salary, or incurs ongoing medical costs, should receive compensation for that loss.”

Figures breakdown

Trade unions have also demanded that the Government publish a full breakdown of the health settings where 7,600 workers who tested positive for Covid-19 were based.

Siptu said its members “urgently need to know if these cases are in acute hospital settings, in the community, in day services or in psychiatric services, nursing homes or intellectual disability residential settings”.

Mr Bell said: “There are three main reasons for demanding this information. Firstly, this information will identify any Covid-19 hotspots. Secondly, the information will allow us to have an understanding if health workers were exposed due to the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) or poor enforcement of HSE protocols. Finally, we will learn how these health workers were treated by their employer, and whether all those who have contracted Covid-19 have been dealt with on a fair and equal basis.”

Fórsa said the group of health unions had sought information on the cases where workers in the sector had tested positive for the virus but had been informed by the HSE that “the granular data could not be released because of personal data protection requirements”.

Mr Donnelly said: “Fórsa fully respects the need for the protection of the personal data of health workers and others. We have not sought personal data, but we do believe that health workers and those they serve could be better protected if more detail of the aggregate data were shared with unions, who have fully co-operated with emergency measures during the Covid-19 pandemic”.