HSE letter informs unvaccinated paramedic of being stood down 'from all frontline duties'

98.3% of all National Ambulance Service staff are fully vaccinated and there is understood to be a very small number of paramedics who are not. File photo: Dan Linehan

It has emerged that unvaccinated paramedics could be removed from frontline duties.

A letter, which appears to have been issued to a member of the National Ambulance Service who is not vaccinated against Covid-19, says they will be rostered Monday to Friday and "will not incur shift pay or premium payments". 98.3% of all National Ambulance Service staff are fully vaccinated and there is understood to be a very small number of paramedics who are not.

The letter appears to have been issued after an individual risk assessment was carried out and found the person was a 'Category A' healthcare worker and ‘in the high risk area and as such vaccination requirements apply’. The person was told they were being stood down "from all frontline duties with direct patient contact", and they would be working Monday to Friday and "this work pattern will not incur shift pay or premium payments". 

The HSE said: "There has been a significant demand to receive the Covid-19 vaccine to date and all indications are that there is a very high take-up of vaccination by healthcare staff, which is welcome. 

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“There is a HSE policy in place to address situations where staff in critical roles are unvaccinated, which is managed at a local healthcare site level, and we know this is a relatively small number in the context of the total healthcare workforce.” 

It said that participation in vaccination programmes in Ireland is not mandatory and “should a person change their mind, vaccination can be made available to them. We continue to offer vaccines to healthcare staff who have not been vaccinated and have processes in place to ensure this option is available.

“A healthcare worker’s vaccination status is a matter between the line manager and the individual staff member when the risk assessment is being conducted so data relating to unvaccinated staff is not held centrally. However, at an aggregate level, NAS has identified that 98.3% of all staff are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.” 

It also said: "It is the case that staff being unable to attend work as a result of Covid-19 is one of a number of factors driving the pressures being experienced by the National Ambulance Service." 

Under current HSE Risk Assessment guidance, updated last month, the HSE said: "Frontline Healthcare Workers (HCWs) have had higher exposure to Covid‐19 virus due to the nature of their work" and noted that "between 10 October and 6 November 2021 there were 67,463 [cases] of which 2,267 were healthcare workers. This is 3.4% of the total cases and 4.9% of cases for which status was known.

"Healthcare workers, students, contractors and other people exposed in Category A High Risk Area positions should confirm their status with respect to vaccination against Covid‐19 to their line manager/supervisor when requested in line with this guidance. This includes confirming their status with respect to booster vaccination."

Last week the owner of the country’s largest private ambulance service, David Hall, said ambulances and paramedics from his company Lifeline Ambulance Services had been drafted in by the HSE to help plug the growing gap in the National Ambulance Service (NAS) as increasing numbers of people have been off work due to Covid-19.

Derek Cunningham of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, of which the National Ambulance Service Representative Association is a branch, said: "The system is running but it is stretched to the absolute limits and it makes the lack of investment historically become apparent."

He said Omicron was bringing its own challenges and added: "We're not seeing a mad rush for ambulance services, just constant and unrelenting [demand]."