James Cox
Ireland’s nurses and midwives deserve additional compensation for their work during the pandemic, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) will tell the Oireachtas health committee today.
Healthcare workers in Northern Ireland and Scotland are set to receive a once-off £500 (€569) bonus for their work so far. In France, they are to be awarded a €1,500 bonus for their work.
The INMO lodged a claim in November for compensatory leave due to fatigue and overwork throughout 2020, which has not yet been responded to.
The INMO will also tell the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health that decisions on worker safety have had “insufficient priority” since the start of the pandemic. The union will say that healthcare workers’ safety has been at risk as a result, while students have been left with a bad experience of the Irish health service.
Mental health supports
The INMO submission will also call for improved social distancing in hospitals, mental health supports for the frontline, childcare provision, and mandatory health and safety inspections in workplaces with clusters or outbreaks of Covid.
INMO president Karen McGowan said: “Despite great risks, our colleagues across nursing and midwifery have made an incredible contribution to the fight against Covid. It is a matter of simple justice that the debt of gratitude owed to frontline staff in recognised.”
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said: “This has been a long hard year for those who work in the health service. Time and time again, frontline healthcare staff have stepped up to provide care in extreme circumstances. It is beyond time that their efforts are recognised.
“We have lodged a claim for compensation for our members, given all they have sacrificed and contributed during this pandemic. We are still awaiting a response.
“Ever since the virus arrived on our shores, we have had to push for basic safety for frontline staff. We were forced to launch a public campaign simply to get facemasks. The government refused to classify Covid as an occupational injury until an EU directive forced their hand.
“Even basic issues like childcare for the largely female healthcare workforce were not dealt with when schools closed.
“It’s time for a clear message from government that our frontline nurses and midwives are truly valued.”
The INMO is also calling for an independent probe into why “so many” healthcare staff in Ireland are contracting Covid-19.
The Irish Times reports that the INMO has raised concerns about a “sharp increase” in hospital-acquired infections in a submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Health.
At a meeting of the committee on Tuesday, TDs and Senators will hear from the INMO and doctors on protection and support for Covid-19 frontline healthcare workers.
The INMO is set to tell the politicians that Covid-19 cases are continuing to rise among healthcare workers in a situation that “threatens healthcare services’s ability to provide essential care”.
