Special paid leave for Covid-related illness and isolation for NHS will be scrapped next week
- NHS staff will lose full sick pay for Covid next Thursday, July 7, DHSC announced
- The director of the Royal College of Nursing, Patricia Marquis, exploded ‘negligent’ decision
- She said it showed ‘how little the British government values its nursing staff’ in NHS
- DHSC said they are resetting sick pay rules ‘as we learn to live with Covid’
The government will next week scrap special paid leave for Covid-related illness and isolation for NHS staff in England.
The decision was seen by nurses as ‘negligent and unfair’ after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it showed ‘how little the UK government values its nursing staff’.
From next Thursday, July 7, all NHS staff in England will return to their pre-Covid sick pay contracts.
The current conditions give all NHS workers full pay for any Covid-related absence, no matter how long they have been in the post.
NHS staff, including nurses, will no longer receive full sick pay once they are off work with Covid in a move deemed ‘negligent and unfair’ by the Royal College of Nursing
However, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has reversed the sick pay rules, ‘as we learn to live with Covid’.
These changes are being introduced as Covid infections increase with around 1.8 million people testing positive for Covid in the UK – around one in 30 people – from last week, according to the Office for National Statistics.
They said the increases were “probably caused by increases in infections that are compatible with Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.”
“This is another indication of how little the UK government values its nursing staff,” said Patricia Marquis, director of RCN England (photo)
Patricia Marquis, Director of RCN England, said: ‘This decision is extremely disappointing as COVID-19 has clearly not disappeared and nursing staff are still disproportionately affected by the virus as they face a greater risk of exposure to the face. stare.
“We know many of our members suffer from prolonged COVID, with their lives being adversely affected, making them unable to work.”
She added: ‘Facing the threat of losing full sick pay would leave them sick from a condition that some might argue is an occupational hazard is negligent and unfair.
‘This is another indication of how little the British government values its nursing staff. ‘NHS payment is scarce enough to finish at the best of times, and it will be another blow to some who are struggling with COVID-19-related health issues.’
A DHSC spokesman told the BBC: ‘As we learn to live with Covid, we are withdrawing the temporary NHS staff’s disease counseling that was set at the height of the pandemic, as part of plans to return to move to the normal arrangements set out. in the NHS’s terms and conditions.
“It provides ample support to NHS staff with up to six months full pay and six months half pay, depending on length of service.”