Student nurses want placement payments reinstated
A GROUP of student nurses at Queen’s University have challenged Health Minister Robin Swann after payments for placements in Covid-19 environments were not re-instated.
During the first lockdown student nurses and midwives studying at Queen’s and Ulster universities were heavily relied upon to help alleviate pressure on qualified nurses, and their efforts were recognised by the Department of Health financially.
But no such payment is available this time — leaving students feeling undervalued.
A letter sent to Mr Swann by a group of student nurses and midwives made an impassioned plea for this payment to be reinstated, and for travel expenses to be covered.
“We can appreciate that difficult decisions have to be made, but fundamentally, student midwives and nurses are being put at risk without sufficient protections or compensation,” they stated.
“In the last several weeks, a number of students have tested positive for Covid-19, and thus we feel compelled to raise these issues directly.”
They also pointed out that because students now have to travel to community appointments using their own transport, many are out of pocket.
The letter notes how student midwives had no legal indemnity available if a student who contracts coronavirus dies.
“No payment could be made to their families, which in many cases include a number of children, unless they were put on salary. This oversight was rightly corrected, but we now find ourselves back in the same situation.”
And they said that their link lecturers from Queen’s don’t attend placements “because it is deemed too unsafe”.
In response, the Department of Health said: “A joint statement from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the Chief Nursing Officers across the UK on November 23, 2020 explains that students, at this time, will not be put into paid placements, as happened earlier during the pandemic.
“Rather, employing trusts will protect their status as supernumerary students and continue to support them through high quality placements, which is a fundamental aspect of pre-registration nurse training. During the period of the pandemic, in addition to tuition fee/ bursary support, they are entitled to travel free on public transport and free car parking at HSC sites.”