Nurses around the country are still waiting on their pandemic bonus, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
The organization has said that over fifteen community intervention team nurses in SouthDoc and thirty-eight community intervention team nurses in CareDoc in Wexford, Waterford, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Carlow and Tipperary have yet to receive the Pandemic Recognition Payment.
INMO Industrial Relations Officer Liam Conway said:
“It is completely unsatisfactory to this union that the nurses in this facility who provide outstanding services to their community have not been given any indication as to when they will receive this payment from their employer and indeed the State.
"These nurses put their lives at risk, like so many of their colleagues across the healthcare system did, when we knew so little about COVID.”
The government announced a €1,000 Pandemic Recognition Payment for frontline health workers in January 2022.
The tax-free payment was said to be “in recognition of their work in dangerous and challenging conditions during the pandemic, and for the thousands of lives saved as a result of their efforts."
Liam Conway said:
“Our members feel extremely let down by this situation. Their employers are not in a position to pay SouthDoc and CareDoc the pandemic bonus directly. The HSE has not responded on this issue to date.
“These nurses are the only community intervention team nurses in the country who have yet to receive the pandemic recognition payment. These nurses entered the homes of patients when very little protections were available to them.
“Nurses in public hospitals and in private nursing homes have long received their payments from the State, why are the nurses in SouthDoc and CareDoc being left behind? They fall under the criteria for the payment.”