Vaccination workforce scaled down but ‘must be ready to come back’
THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has begun scaling down its vaccination workforce, a document seen by the Irish Mail on Sunday reveals. However, in a sign health authorities fear a potential new Covid variant emerging, they have asked vaccinators to be ready to come back if needed.
A document on workforce guidance for centres describes how staff should be sent back to work within the health service if possible. But it also says they could be brought back in again in the event future vaccinations are required. The document reads: ‘As operations begin to scale down in vaccination centres, there is a need to reduce the vaccination workforce. This reduction in staff will need to be managed sensitively, acknowledging the support and responsiveness of the workforce to date, the current reduction in demand for vaccination and the possibility of recall or recruitment again in the future, should there be a surge or increase in service needs. For this reason, every effort should be made to redeploy vaccination centre staff into the wider health care system.’
However, a vaccination centre source said the HSE has not informed them of what contingency planning looks like if staff are needed for future vaccine programmes. The source told the MoS: ‘There is not any real contingency plan and a lot of people are at the stage where they need to commit fully to their old jobs because those jobs are suffering in their absence, they just want more communication now around what will happen down the line in any potential scenario.’
Health chiefs recommend the redeployment of staff on a phased basis, with HSE staff returning to their primary roles first. The National
Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) recommended lifting almost all remaining Covid-19 restrictions from February 29. Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has also advised NPHET itself can now be stood down.