Contracts of Covid testing staff in 18 counties to end as HSE scales down pandemic response

The contracts of Covid-19 testing staff in 18 counties are set to end next week as the HSE scales down the emergency response established during the pandemic.

For now, the centres will remain open but after a transition period, testing will be provided by GPs supported by the National Ambulance Service (NAS). There are 29 community test centres open at present.

According to the HSE winter plan, a GP clinical pathway for Covid testing was planned for “autumn 2022″ but the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said on Friday no discussions have taken place on the issue.

Contracts for about 100 community swabbers in the the midwest, east, Dublin South/Kildare/West Wicklow, Midlands/Louth-Meath and Cavan/Monaghan will cease next Monday, a HSE spokesman confirmed to The Irish Times.

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The final 100 swabbing staff are being retained in other HSE community healthcare organisation areas, covering the west, south/southwest/southeast/Dublin north city and county, and Donegal/Sligo and Leitrim, but only until the end of January 2023. At the height of the pandemic, almost 1,000 swabbers were deployed.

The HSE said the decision was informed by a range of factors including geography, synergies with the NAS and current testing staffing levels. Eighty-four community testing staff were given notice and the number of staff for whom an alternative role has not been found/have not accepted a role offered is small, according to the HSE.

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Affected staff have largely transferred to other roles in the health service. “The HSE is committed to, and will continue to, engage with staff around potential suitable roles for which they may apply or may be reassigned into based on vacancies to be filled in the system currently,” the spokesman said. “This will be done in line with the human resources principles previously agreed with Siptu.”

Covid testing centres will continue to operate, staffed on a rotating basis by ambulance personnel. The HSE said this is part of a long-term plan to manage Covid in a similar way to other respiratory diseases, through surveillance in primary care.

The transition to this long-term model began earlier this year, when the criteria for testing changed. Since then, Covid testing is recommended for limited specific at-risk groups.

The spokesman said a review was recently undertaken to determine the model for testing from this month as the system transitions fully to the long-term model.

“In the near term, community test centres will continue to operate in order to maintain the required level of capacity within the overall system, which includes a surge capacity beyond the actual demand.

“In order to be able to meet this level of surge capacity, it has been deemed necessary to retain approximately 100 CHO [community healthcare organisation] staff nationally to work alongside the NAS capacity.

“Testing centres remain open and those no longer operated by CHO staff will be operated by NAS staff who have been recruited to support delivery of the service.”

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Dr Denis McCauley, chairman of the IMO GP committee, said there have been no discussions with the HSE about GP-led swabbing.

Meanwhile, there were seven patients with Covid in intensive care on Friday, the second-lowest figure recorded this year.

A total of 298 patients with the virus were in hospital, the lowest figure in almost two months.

There has been a record number of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) cases this week, said chief medical officer Prof Breda Smyth, and flu cases are also rising sharply.

Last week, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre recorded 648 RSV cases and 282 hospitalisations with the virus. Some 65 per cent of cases were in children aged under five.