HSE personnel with nursing, medical and social care professional qualifications who are no longer engaged in frontline duties should be identified and re-deployed to assist where their skills are most required, the health authority has said in a new policy for use during the coronavirus outbreak.
In an updated document produced on Friday, the HSE said staff who retired in the past two years may be re-hired as part of the crisis management measures.
“If necessary, employees may be required to work different hours or in a different location. In this regard, redeployment will be based on need and urgency of need,” the HSE said.
“Notice requirements normally associated with alterations to the usual practice of scheduling shift changes, changes to hours of work and/or changes to work locations will be suspended for the duration of Covid-19 infection as redeployment needs will require assessment on a daily basis.”
The HSE also said in the updated policy document that in order to deal with the effects of Covid-19 infection, there may be a requirement for some or all identified non-essential services to be cancelled or postponed.
“Employees in positions that are curtailed or temporarily suspended [non-essential services] will be deemed available to be redeployed to assist in other essential service areas that are experiencing staffing shortages.
“Employees most at risk of contracting Covid-19 in the workplace [eg age 60 years or over, have a long-term medical condition, immune suppressed, pregnant] will be assigned to non-direct contact areas.”
Strikes and disputes
Controversial proposals put forward last week by the HSE to effectively ban strikes and disputes for the duration of the coronavirus outbreak, which were rejected by unions, were dropped from the new version of the policy document.
Earlier proposals allowing the HSE to outsource some services if necessary have been omitted from the new document. However, there is a separate side note governing outsourcing of services.
In this note the HSE said it acknowledged the unions’ position with regard to outsourcing. It said it continued to be committed to the provisions of the current public service agreement (regarding outsourcing) “in normal circumstances”.
However, it said the categorisation of the current outbreak, and the Government announcement regarding the coronavirus outbreak “were now presenting us all with a unique, challenging and unprecedented situation”.
The trade union Siptu said on Friday it would not agree to the HSE document as long as the reference to outsourcing remained in it.
However, the country's largest public service union, Fórsa, on Friday pledged full co-operation with measures for tackling Covid-19 but sought engagement on operational matters.
Transport union
Meanwhile, the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) has said it cannot guarantee that its members will continue operating public transport services in the absence of social distancing recommendations advanced by health experts being implemented in the State-owned bus and train companies.
General secretary Dermot O’Leary also said it would back members who made a conscious decision not to handle cash over fears of contracting the virus.
He said Bus Éireann, in particular, should inform customers as a matter of urgency that they must buy tickets in advance of travelling or use a Leap card.
He said these were health and welfare matters for staff rather than industrial relation issues.
