'Children cannot be left alone' — health workers plea for support if schools to stay shut

It is not about equating education with childcare but children cannot be left alone.

Doctors and other healthcare workers are calling for support if schools are to remain closed during January.

Adviser on Covid-19 and past president of the Irish College of General Practitioners Dr Mary Favier said authorities need to focus on what solutions can be offered.

The Cork city GP said: “Four of our five receptionists will have complex childcare problems as a result, we are going to have to run a skeleton staff and it knocks through into our nursing staff and GP staff.” 

She said it is not about equating education with childcare but the reality that children cannot be left alone.

“It’s not to say that keeping the schools open is the solution but there needs to be a solution. Our situation is a microcosm of so many other essential workers in healthcare or other sectors,” she said.

A HSE study found more than three-quarters of their workforce are female. 

Dr Favier said society needs to urgently look at the presumption that women are the primary carers for children.

There needs to be leadership on that to say that is no longer OK.

"These responsibilities need to rest 50/50 in a family unit and be solved in a collegiate basis,” she said.

Vice-president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), head of department in radiology in the National Maternity Hospital and consultant paediatric radiologist at Temple Street Gabrielle Colleran, said closing the schools without this support will cause chaos in hospitals.

“I had contact from a consultant colleague this morning to say the three consultants in their department have 10 children under 12, so they actually can’t function between creche and school if they are taken away,” she said.

The IHCA has raised concerns around childcare with the HSE, she said, but while she feels they are listening, nothing has been done.

Last time they said we have to improvise.

"It is one thing to say that in March, it is not acceptable to say it in January 10 months later,” she said.

HSE chief operations officer Anne O’Connor has described school closures as “particularly challenging” for the organisation.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News At One on Tuesday, she said: “We would encourage everybody to help healthcare workers to be at work.” 

In the UK on Tuesday, it was announced that children of key workers and vulnerable children can go to school despite closures and early-years settings will also stay open.

School closures: Areas to consider

Jess Casey

With schools expected to remain closed until the end of January at least, several key areas need to be kept under careful consideration. 

The 2021 State Exams: Project and practical work for the Leaving Certificate have deadlines fast approaching, and the orals for the language subjects are right around the corner. There is also a lot of worry around the pre exams, which usually take place around February. The Department of Education says it is "determined" to hold the traditional exams this summer. Teachers, and the Government, will also be keen to avoid a repeat of calculated grades, which encountered a fair share of setbacks. An independent inquiry into the major mistakes has yet to begin. In England, the equivalent of the Leaving and Junior Certificate exams, which usually take place in May, were cancelled this week, with Boris Johnson saying it's "not possible or fair" for them to go ahead. 

The children of frontline and essential workers: With schools and creches closed, childcare will become a problem for many essential workers. 

School meals: Thousands of children rely on getting nutritious meals and hot breakfasts through programmes delivered by schools. Last year, many schools began delivering food parcels to families in their communities, and the School Meals Scheme was extended throughout the summer. 

Wellbeing: There is a long, cold, dark month ahead of us as the schools stay closed. The wellbeing of children will not only be important, but also that of parents, teachers, and principals. Principals, in particular, have been on the go since the beginning of this pandemic, working right through the summer holidays to get schools ready for reopening.