The contracts of Covid-19 testing staff in 18 counties are set to end next week as the HSE scales down the emergency response established during the pandemic
The final 100 swabbing staff are being retained in other HSE community healthcare organisation areas, covering the west, south/southwest/southeast/Dublin north city and county, and Donegal/Sligo and Leitrim, but only until the end of January 2023. At the height of the pandemic, almost 1,000 swabbers were deployed.
Covid testing centres will continue to operate, staffed on a rotating basis by ambulance personnel. The HSE said this is part of a long-term plan to manage Covid in a similar way to other respiratory diseases, through surveillance in primary care. The spokesman said a review was recently undertaken to determine the model for testing from this month as the system transitions fully to the long-term model.
“In order to be able to meet this level of surge capacity, it has been deemed necessary to retain approximately 100 CHO [community healthcare organisation] staff nationally to work alongside the NAS capacity.
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