Sinn Fein will put forward a motion for the publication of a report on student nurses’ pay that the government received almost three months ago.
David Cullinane, the party’s health spokesman, said the government must publish the independent report commissioned by the health department on student nurses and midwives’ pay and conditions, and enter into negotiations with sector representatives.
Stephen Donnelly, the health minister, received the report on August 12.
There will be a demonstration by student nurses and midwives outside the Dáil this afternoon to highlight their “poor treatment during the pandemic”. Student nurses and midwives from the 13 colleges and universities that provide training will attend.
A short term review commissioned by the department last year recommended that student nurses on clinical placements be paid €100 a week until the end of the pandemic, with backdated payments from September 2020. The review was given to the department at the end of December and published in May.
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The complete review by Sean McHugh, an independent mediator, on pay and allowances for student nurses and midwives beyond the pandemic has yet to be published by government.
Cullinane said: “We were hoping to have this report published before the budget so that the government could enter into negotiations with the INMO [Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation] and other healthcare representatives, but it wasn’t. The recommendations are not known, but they were not factored into the budget. It has just been sat on the minister’s desk.”
Meanwhile, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) met yesterday to discuss giving healthcare workers an additional vaccine shot. The INMO called on the government to include healthcare workers in the booster programme as they were the first to be vaccinated up to ten months ago.
The HSE said up to 3,500 healthcare workers were currently absent from work because of Covid-related illnesses. This is nearly double the number of absent staff recorded ten days ago. On October 22 there were 1,800 HSE staff out due to Covid-19, forcing University Hospital Limerick and Galway University Hospital to cancel surgeries.
Ivan Perry, University College Cork public health professor, said healthcare workers were in the “eye of the storm” and should receive the booster shot as a “matter of urgency. We have seen the absence of staff now due to Covid-19 so practically they need more protection and many staff are in high risk groups themselves, so they need the additional protection.”
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The Department of Health confirmed 2,855 cases of Covid-19 yesterday, with 515 people in hospital including 91 in intensive care.
Paul Reid, HSE chief executive, said on Twitter that there was a “steady” number of people coming forward for vaccinations. “Over the past six days almost 15,000 people have come to a vaccination centre via an appointment or walk.”
Perry added that primary schools should be a main focus for public health to ensure the unvaccinated age group and teachers were protected. He said mask wearing in primary schools should be introduced. “There is very little good evidence that masks cause any harm to children,” he said. “There is plenty of research to say that it prevents transmission and it will protect children from getting Covid and the effects of long Covid.”
The professor said contact tracing could be resumed in primary schools with antigen tests. Students who do not show any symptoms after close contact with someone who has Covid-19 have not been required to restrict their movements since the end of September, under a recommendation from the National Public Health Emergency Team on measures for children aged up to 13 years.