Long Covid scheme for healthcare workers to end
A special scheme for healthcare workers living with long Covid will finish at the end of June, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has confirmed.
Ms Carroll MacNeill was speaking in response to a question in the Dáil by Labour spokesperson on health Marie Sherlock, who said the response so far had been "disrespectful and downright degrading to those who gave so much and risked so much at a time of such uncertainty and risk for this country".
The Minister said there are 159 Health Service Executive and Section 38 organisation staff who are currently on the scheme and in receipt of full pay.
She said they will continue to be supported and the full provisions of the public service sick leave scheme will apply for anyone who remains unable to return to work.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said that health workers had gone beyond the call of duty, particularly during the early days of the pandemic, when the protections were not as strong as they came to be and "when the risk was extraordinarily great".
She said a temporary scheme was put in place for 12 months in 2022, and believed there were 159 people in receipt of full pay for the past five years, and that this scheme had been updated four times.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was clear in June 2024 that that was the final extension, saying the scheme would end at the end of this month.
She said she was aware that the matter was heard at the Labour Court earlier this month, and said she awaited the court's ruling.
Deputy Sherlock said that these patients contracted long Covid in the workplace, and said "the refusal to extend this scheme...reflects a shocking lack of empathy and indeed respect for these workers".
She said people had described the scheme as "a lifeline".
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