The leaking of a memo sent to management of Tallaght hospital over a possible outbreak of swine flu has been described as unnecessary and a potential distraction by Siptu.
RTÉ tonight reported that the hospital had asked all staff who were pregnant, severely obese or who had chronic health problems or HIV to contact its occupational health unit in case of an outbreak of the H1N1 virus.
The memo said the hospital needed to identify staff that had an increased risk of influenza complications if they contract the virus. It said the request was part of an occupational health survey and a previous request for this information last month had received a poor response.
Tallaght Hospital chief executive Michael Lyons told RTÉ the hospital had a duty of care to employees and had to ensure there was a sufficient number of staff available to care for patients.
Siptu’s Dublin health services branch organiser Paul Bell said union representatives at the hospital had not been consulted about the survey.
"Containing swine flu is a serious issue and needs to be dealt with expeditiously and sensitively,” he said. “Leaking plans to the media when we have received no prior notice is an unnecessary and potentially damaging distraction. It defies logic to understand why this was done.”
Mr Bell said the union would be seeking an urgent meeting with hospital management.
“Hopefully this is not a case of someone trying to push a particular agenda and not interested in having input from staff on the ground, many of whom have valuable contributions to make on infection control as they are usually the people who have to implement it.”