The HSE has directed its managers to require staff to work at home during the Level Five Covid-19 restrictions, unless they are frontline workers whose physical presence is required in the workplace.

The instruction, aimed at bringing the health authority in line with official national regulations, came after Fórsa complained that too many public servants were being required to go into workplaces unnecessarily. 

In a circular issued to health service managers last week, the HSE says health service managers must identify roles suitable for home working to “restrict footfall at the workplace to the greatest extent possible.” It reminds them of current Government advice “that physical attendance at workplaces is only permitted where such services can only be provided in person and cannot be delivered remotely.”

Fórsa’s head of health Éamonn Donnelly also said he’d be assured that most health and social care clinics would again be delivered on a remote basis during Level Five. Earlier in the pandemic, the HSE moved to equip health and social care professionals for remote working.

“For obvious reasons, tens of thousands of health workers in all grades continue to attend workplaces and put their health at risk for the sake of the wider community. We welcome this move by the HSE because frontline workers in all grades and occupations are best helped by ensuring that workers who can work from home are allowed to do so,” he said.

Éamonn said managers across the public service should also move to reduce potentially virus-spreading interactions in workplaces and on public transport in order to boost the national effort to contain the virus.