Over 20 families of healthcare staff who died during pandemic set to qualify for €100k payment

More than 20 families are expected to benefit from a Government scheme to pay €100,000 tax-free in respect of healthcare workers who died during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly on Tuesday opened the death in service ex gratia scheme for applicants.

The payment will be made to the estate of healthcare workers who died having contracted Covid-19 in the course of their work.

The scheme is open to all staff who were designated essential during the early phases of the pandemic. Eligibility includes GPs and other primary care staff, including administrative staff, disability services staff, and private staff in nursing homes and throughout the healthcare system.

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A total of 23 healthcare workers are recorded by the Healthcare Protection Surveillance Centre as having died having contracted Covid-19, most of them in the first year of the pandemic.

However, to qualify for the payment, Covid-19 has to be the whole or main cause of death and there has to be evidence of Covid-19 in the workplace around the time of infection.

The scheme, which was approved by Cabinet last March, will be operated by social inclusion body Pobal.

The Department of Health says the payment is in addition to any other arrangements a person may have in place or benefit that may be payable on death and does not impact their legal rights.

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Mr Donnelly said: “Today is an important day and offers another means for us as a country to recognise the significant contribution our healthcare workers made to Ireland’s response to Covid-19. Since March 2020, we have asked them to assume an unknown level of risk in their work, and, unfortunately, many healthcare workers contracted Covid-19 in work and a small number sadly passed away.”

“Myself and my colleagues in Government are aware of tragic cases where families have been left without income at a time of extraordinary grief. This payment offers some support from the State to provide for the family’s needs, while also serving as a real acknowledgment of the debt of gratitude all of us across the country feel to the extraordinary sacrifices of their loved ones.”

The first claims are expected to be paid out at the end of this year, with most being processed in 2023.