Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will move on to the wearing of face masks. I received quite a number of emails at a very early stage from people on the front line who wanted to wear face masks, but it appears that a decision was taken at a local level, by individual medical units, nursing homes or whatever, that masks were not required. Did the witnesses hear from people who had made requests that those in charge of a particular ward, hospital or nursing home ruled against that rather than there being a diktat from a central body such as the HSE?

Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha:I will answer that. The policy of the HSE was quite specific on the wearing of face masks, and it was not broad enough. The policy was quoted to nurses when they sought to wear face masks and the wearing of face masks in the particular setting that they were in contravened the policy. At national level we had to change the policy. As I said, the policy was changed on 22 April to allow the widespread wearing of face masks, something that should have been the case from the beginning.

In respect of the question on underlying health conditions posed by the Deputy, healthcare workers got infected because of the exposure rate. They, no more than any other section of the population, include those with underlying health conditions.

The biggest issue we faced was nurses who were pregnant and attending work. We had a battle to ensure that they were not exposed. Pregnancy was not considered an underlying health condition. Some 34% of all of healthcare worker infections were among nurses.

Treating a pregnant woman with Covid-19 is very difficult and should never even be contemplated. We had a huge problem in trying to get pregnant nurses and midwives redeployed away from the front line. That problem was exacerbated because underlying staffing levels do not support redeployment.

We also had a call from the private sector to redeploy public servants, particularly nurses and midwives, into the private sector when it was short of staff. Personal protective equipment, PPE, was a problem in the private sector and policies and procedures, etc., were unfortunately absent in some cases. The exposure of healthcare workers is the point. It cannot be left to the employers and must be looked at by an agency with the statutory authority to examine it. An employer constantly suggesting reasons something has happened is simply not good enough. We must have stronger and better protections for healthcare workers on a legislative basis. They deserve the same protections as any other worker in this country and should not be treated less favourably.