Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health David Cullinane TD has called on the Minister for Health to ensure fair treatment for healthcare workers this winter as the health service faces a tsunami of COVID and non-COVID care.

Teachta Cullinane said that this must include a booster vaccine dose as frontline healthcare workers are highly exposed.

Teachta Cullinane said:

“Frontline healthcare workers have had an extremely difficult time in the last two years, and every winter there is another crisis to grapple with.

“This winter will be extremely difficult as COVID hospitalisations continue to rise.

“The Minister needs to ensure fair treatment for healthcare workers this winter and that starts with guaranteeing a booster vaccine dose.

“I am also calling on the Minister to waive registration and renewal fees for the Nursing and Midwifery Board this year as a gesture of goodwill for the sacrifices they have made.

“Hospitals are buried under COVID and non-COVID care with major emergency department overflows from a lack of capacity and safe staffing levels.

“Hundreds of healthcare workers are out sick with COVID and many more have caught it and continue to suffer with long COVID symptoms, and hospitals are one of the largest locations for outbreaks.

“We need to protect our healthcare workers this winter and deliver their booster urgently.”