Harney under fire over nurses' vaccination fees
Tánaiste and health minister Mary Harney has become immune to her own campaigns, an opposition TD claimed tonight.
Five days after the Tanaiste warned that all frontline health workers should be protected from deadly disease, Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey said it was wholly unreasonable to deny nurses vaccinations.
Student nurses at St James’s Hospital were told they would have to pay €100 for injections against Hepatitis B and Tuberculosis.
Around 60 of them staged a sit-in protest at the hospital to highlight the dispute.
Dr Twomey, Wexford TD, said it was unbelievable that nurses would have their health compromised because they could not pay the fee.
“This is an extraordinary situation and a bitter irony in light of the fact that the Tanaiste, the HSE, Department of Health and Children and the World Health Organisation launched world immunisation week in Dublin last Monday,” the Rosslare-based GP said.
Management at St James’s demanded cash for the immunisation against the diseases, while the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) said it would cost as little as €9,000 for the hospital to complete the injections.
The dispute comes only five days after the Tanaiste spoke of the merits and need for vaccination and immunisation for frontline health workers.
“Ending that week with student nurses being forced to stage a sit-in in order to receive their vaccinations would seem to suggest that the Tanaiste is immune to her own information campaigns,” Dr Twomey said.
“It is unbelievable that student nurses would have their health compromised because they were not in a position to pay this fee.”
A spokesman for St James’s said the nurses would be formally offered the immunisation for a fee.
“The hospital has offered in writing to nurses that they will provide vaccinations and tests for €100 and send invoices or bills to individual nurses,”
“They are not obliged to accept this and if they do they will incur a bill.”
Phil Ni Sheaghdha, INO industrial relations officer, said it was the second dispute over money involving the hospital in the last 12 months.
“These student nurses are the future of nursing in Ireland. This is the second time they have had to protest at this hospital regarding fees and costs that the hospital has refused to give them,” she said.
It is widely accepted that healthcare workers are at particular risk from the diseases and need immunisation, but the Government has yet to order hospitals to provide the jabs for free.
Ms Ni Sheaghdha demanded to know why the Government could spend millions on consultancy fees and computer payment systems but could not set aside a few thousand euro for students.
The controversial PPARS computerised payroll system cost the State around €165m and its full roll-out has been suspended pending a review by the Health Service Executive.
“Considering the amount of money that has been wasted on a computer system, providing this protective measure to non-salaried students would be an exercise in good management and the INO commends the employers in the country who have already taken this step,” Ms Ni Sheaghdha said.
“This is a small-minded approach and does not lend itself to best practice considering the huge difficulties in nursing recruitment and retention currently being experienced.”
