Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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I agree with Ms Ní Sheaghdha wholeheartedly on that. I also previously brought up the donning and doffing of PPE at this committee and was told the HSE had provided videos on it. I was contacted by a nurse in Cavan hospital many weeks ago who highlighted the issue of donning and doffing of protective clothing and two weeks later, we had one of the highest spikes in the healthcare sector for that very reason. I again ask the witnesses to speak to the HSE about that because these are simple measures to implement. The very first priority is that workers need to be protected. Everybody accepts that. We cannot protect from everything but we can mitigate as far as possible. The INMO should also talk to the HSE about more flexible rotas. Perhaps nurses should only do four hours on and four hours off, with some kind of alternate shift change to reduce the level of fatigue and thereby reduce the rate of infection. I applaud everything the witnesses are doing. I feel sorry for front-line workers who have been caught up in this and I also feel sorry that we are not learning from the mistakes of the past. I hope they will bring these matters to the Minister, as I also intend to do.