Fórsa is insisting that safe work protocols are put in place in all health settings as the HSE shifts activity back to normal services, with Covid-19 demands being subsumed into the overall operation.

Fórsa’s elected National Executive Committee has advised its branches and officials that significant changes to – or departures from – agreements governing pay and working conditions should again be negotiated through normal industrial relations procedures from Monday 29^th June.

The independent facilitator appointed to undertake a career pathway review for health and social care professionals (HSCP) has invited Fórsa ‘vocational groups’ representing each profession to make written submissions in advance of discussions.

The Department of Health has set aside a clause in the job description of a newly-appointed chief nursing officer pending an engagement with Fórsa, which will begin on Monday (29^th June).

Fórsa has called on health employers to engage with staff representatives to ensure the timely implementation of a new ten-year roadmap for Ireland’s mental health services, which was launched by health minister Simon Harris last week.

The Government’s proposed summer education programme for children with special educational needs cannot be delivered in full until issues over the availability of health and social care professionals (HSCPs) are resolved, according to Fórsa.

Last Friday’s meeting of the European Council in Brussels fell short of ironing out disagreements over the proposed EU recovery package, designed to restore European economies severely damaged by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.