Following the announcement by HSE chief executive Paul Reid that he is seeking a derogation for healthcare workers to be exempt from the new five-day rule to self-isolate if a member of their household becomes infected with Covid-19, the National Joint Council group of healthcare unions have written to the HSE opposing the plan.
National Joint Council Chairperson, Tony Fitzpatrick said: “Healthcare unions – the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, SIPTU and Fórsa are strongly opposed to the comments made by HSE CEO, Paul Reid at a press conference earlier today where he stated that he will be seeking a derogation to exempt healthcare workers from the new five-day isolation rule.
“We cannot repeat the mistakes of previous derogations that allowed healthcare workers to be exempt from public health advice. We know in the past that allowing healthcare workers to be exempt we saw infections spike among healthcare workers and patients, particularly when it came to the care of older people."
Mr Fitzpatrick said healthcare workers should not be treated differently in terms of public health advice.
"The HSE and Government need to take the concerns of patient-facing staff seriously. We cannot have a situation where the highest cohort of workers who are dealing with unvaccinated patients and working in environments with poor ventilation like many of our healthcare settings, are putting their colleagues and loved ones at further risk.
“The derogation that the CEO of the HSE is seeking will not help to prevent the spread of the disease.
“As representatives of healthcare workers, we want to make it clear to the Health Service Executive, Taoiseach and Minister for Health that our members will not accept this. We are already seeing over 4,500 healthcare workers out of work because of this virus, we cannot allow a carte blanche decision that is not rooted in public health advice to be made.”
