{"id":232856,"date":"2025-12-14T19:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T19:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/232856\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T19:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T19:25:08","slug":"cork-nurse-suffering-from-long-covid-could-lose-home-as-payment-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/232856\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork nurse suffering from long covid could lose home as payment ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Healthcare workers suffering from long covid have been urged to address the Oireachtas health committee this week ahead of the pending closure of their payment scheme<\/a> at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

One Cork<\/a> nurse has claimed that should the suspension of the payment go ahead as planned she will be unable to pay her mortgage going forward, and will lose her home.<\/p>\n

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has lobbied health committee chair and Social Democrats TD Padraig Rice to consider hearing the testimony of the 120 workers still being paid under the pandemic-era scheme before the D\u00e1il breaks for Christmas next week.<\/p>\n

INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghda told Mr Rice \u201cthe Government has not accepted covid<\/a> as an occupational disease causing injury to healthcare workers suffering from long covid because of workplace exposure\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese workers, predominantly women, will transition to the Public Sector Sick Leave Scheme, which is time-limited and (would) render them with no options for sick leave if they recover and return to work, which is their desire,\u201d Ms Ni Sheaghda said.<\/p>\n

The special leave with pay scheme <\/a>for healthcare workers was initiated during the pandemic to ensure full pay for those suffering with long covid and who were unable to return to work.<\/p>\n

It has been extended a number of times since its inception \u2014 however both the HSE and the Department of Health have confirmed the scheme will expire for good on December 31.<\/p>\n

Final extension given in June following a Labour Court hearing<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the department said the scheme had been given a final extension in June following a Labour Court hearing, and that when it expires the staff in receipt of it and who are unfit to return to work \u201cwill move seamlessly\u201d onto the public service sick leave scheme \u2014 which is time-limited to 183 days over a four-year period.<\/p>\n

Douglas-based nurse Fiona Walsh, who contracted long covid at work during the \u2018meaningful Christmas\u2019 when the government relaxed pandemic-restrictions from December 2021 leading to a surge in infections, says she \u201cwon\u2019t survive on no income\u201d.<\/p>\n

Describing herself as \u201cextremely unwell\u201d still, Ms Walsh (39) said she continues to suffer from brain fog, joint and muscular pain, tachycardia, and nausea, and still becomes very tired after any level of exertion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very upsetting, very stressful. Obviously we\u2019re grateful that they\u2019ve paid us all this time, but we feel we\u2019ve been abandoned and forgotten about now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is many of us do face losing our homes if our pay is stopped. I live alone. I pay the mortgage alone. I won\u2019t survive on no income.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone agrees I have long Covid. I\u2019ve tried all protocols and regimes but nothing has helped. I haven\u2019t been fine since January 2021.”<\/p>\n

She said affected workers met Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin last June to discuss the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe showed loads of empathy. He said he\u2019d talk to the minister [for health Jennifer Carroll McNeill]. I don\u2019t know if he has the power to overrule her, or if that is how this works,\u201d Ms Walsh said.<\/p>\n

Last week the Taoiseach told Social Democrats TD Liam Quaide in the D\u00e1il that he will \u201ctalk to the ministers involved again\u201d regarding the pending cessation of the workers\u2019 payment, but added he \u201cdidn\u2019t want to raise any hopes\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Healthcare workers suffering from long covid have been urged to address the Oireachtas health committee this week ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[781,9,10,64,18,13,14,6,135,2741,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-232856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-cork-news","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-covid-19","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-health","17":"tag-health-news","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115719564494293509","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}