Covid-19: NI health and social care workers to get £500 payment
By Jayne McCormack
Published
image captionRobin Swann says all health workers are valued and have worked tirelessly during the pandemic
Health workers in Northern Ireland are to get a special recognition payment for their work during the pandemic.
It is intended that all staff will receive a payment of £500, said Health Minister Robin Swann.
However, it will be subject to approval from the Department of Finance.
There had been calls from some political parties and health unions for staff to be recognised for their efforts.
Scotland has already announced a similar one-off payment and Mr Swann said it would reflect the principle of parity .
He said Mr Martin accepted that Northern Ireland was testing the genomes as part of wider screening on a UK basis, just that data for that part of the island is not available as a breakdown.
After calling Ms Foster to explain his position, the First Minister tweeted: “Just finished a call with Micheál Martin where he accepted that Northern Ireland is testing for SARS-CoV-2. The variant testing here is massively more advanced than (in the) Republic of Ireland.”
She added: “(I) also pressed him on sharing travel locator forms. He committed to movement soon on that issue.”
As officials here said their Northern counterparts had heard something other than what the Taoiseach intended to convey, the Northern Ireland Department of Health referred to “some misleading commentary in recent days”.
Meanwhile, military medical personnel will be on hospital wards across Northern Ireland by the end of the week to help the heath service in the fight against Covid-19.
The request by Health Minister Robin Swann for military assistance was accepted the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to help ease pressure at a number of hospitals here.
The Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) agreement will see over 100 medical technicians provide nursing support to a number of local trusts during the current stage of the Covid 19 pandemic - this MACA support is also being provided in other UK regions.
The BBC reports that the medics, who are of paramedic grade in the RAF, Army and Navy, will take up nursing assistant roles.