Health staff ‘unavailable’ due to Covid-19 hits 2,000

About 2,000 health service staff are unavailable for work due to Covid-19, the Oireachtas Committee on Health has heard.

Health Service Executive chief operations officer Anne O'Connor said, on average, more than 1,100 staff are out at any one time due to infection or being a close contact of a case, while a significant number of staff are unavailable due to having underlying health conditions.

HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henrysaid the proportion of health workers being infected with the virus was lower now than at the start of the pandemic, with the fall due to increased awareness of the risks posed by Covid-19.

However, he said a “small number” of infected healthcare workers have been out for protracted periods.

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HSE chief executive Paul Reidsaid the organisation wanted to provide maximum protection for healthcare workers, who had done “phenomenal” work responding to the pandemic.

With Ireland having one of the highest proportions of cases among healthcare workers, Mr Reid said the HSE wanted to "get behind" the reasons for this. However, he said some other countries counted cases among doctors and nurses only, whereas Ireland counts all cases in the health service.

Dr Henry said there had been no reports in Ireland of any people being reinfected with Covid-19.

Mr Reid told the committee that so far, 350 swabbers and 470 contact tracers have been recruited on 12 month contracts as part of a scaling up of the State’s testing and tracing programme.

He said the €600 million in funding for the HSE’s winter plan would be used in areas where it will have “maximum impact”. The HSE’s core objectives were to avoid congestion in hospitals, to provide resources to community health services to deliver more care, and to ensure “seamless” lines of communication between hospitals and community services, he added.

Mr Reid said other priorities were to support nursing homes, strengthen public health capaicty and minimise the effects of Covid-19 on cancer services, including screening.

“Winter funding will only get us so far,” he continued. “Our success is also heavily predicated on the public continuing to taking the necessary precautions as per public health advice and continuing the downward trend in community transmission of Covid-19.”

Waiting lists have “stabilised, albeit at a higher level” than we had before the pandemic began, Mr Reid acknowledged.