• €5,000 personal accident cover
• €5,000 critical illness or death benefit
• Spouses covered for death benefit too
• €5,000 illness benefit if you’re out of work for more than 12 months
• Evacuation or repatriation expenses up to €250,000 for members deceased, seriously injured or ill abroad

• 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
• Free legal help in bodily injury cases  1850-77-66-44
• Free 24/7 legal advice helpline   1850-77-66-44
• Free 24/7 confidential counselling helpline 1850-77-66-55
• Free 24/7 domestic assistance helpline  1850-77-66-44

• Car insurance
• Home insurance
• Travel insurance
• Additional pension benefits
• Salary protection and life cover.

Fórsa has called on the Government to allocate funds in October’s Budget to begin shortening pay scales for ‘new entrants’ to non-commercial semi-state organisations next year. This would be earlier than originally envisaged in the current public sector pay deal, the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA).

Speaking at the union’s Civil Service Division conference in Killarney last week, Fórsa joint general secretary Tom Geraghty accepted that no money was budgeted to resolve the injustice in 2018.

“While it is correct to say that no monies have been allocated to do this in 2018, I believe that Ireland’s strengthening economic and exchequer recovery means it should be possible to start funding it next year, rather than delaying until 2020 or beyond. That would require funds to be allocated in October’s Budget,” he said.

Tom and other officers of ICTU’s Public Services Committee will meet senior Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) officials to discuss the matter on Friday (27th April). The talks are taking place under the PSSA agreement, negotiated last summer, which allows for an “examination” of the new entrants’ pay issue.

Measures in the agreement are applied in non-commercial semi-state organisations.

Friday’s meeting is likely to be the first of a series of engagements dealing with the practicalities of equalising the length of pay scales. The Government has not conceded Fórsa’s call for some money to change hands next year, despite recent media reports that pay adjustments may be “on the way” for new entrants.

The union has also cautioned that media reports of payments averaging €3,300 a year are overblown, as this figure includes employer costs – like employers’ PRSI payments – which do not appear in pay packets.

The term ‘new entrants’ refers to those employed in the public service and non-commercial semi-states since January 2011. Their pay scales are currently two points longer than those of other staff, which means it takes them two years longer to get to the top of their pay scale.

Negotiators must confront the technical challenges presented by the fact that the length of pay scales varies widely across the civil and public service. Unions also want to ensure that any solution is fair to all new entrants, regardless of how long they have been employed.

Tom said pay equity was a priority for all trade unions, which had addressed the inequity in various national pay talks. “Every bit of progress in addressing this injustice has been achieved by unions collectively, through national pay negotiations and public service pay agreements,” he said.

Fórsa has told health department officials that the appointment of a senior advisor on health and social care is vital to the successful rollout of the ten-year Sláintecare programme for improved health services.

The union says health and social care professionals (HSCP) must be at the centre of the community-based primary care services promised in the health reform initiative, which has cross-party support.

Fórsa leaders met health officials last week to discuss a range of HSCP issues. The meeting came on foot of health minister Simon Harris’s appearance at Fórsa’s HSCP conference in February.

The HSE recently appointed a senior advisor in the field, but a similar post in the Department of Health has been vacant for some years. Fórsa understands this was a casualty of the crisis-era recruitment embargo, rather than a policy decision to abolish the post.

Fórsa national secretary Éamonn Donnelly told senior health officials that the appointment was a practical necessity and a test of Government commitment to quality services in communities and hospitals.

“The number of health and social care professionals is projected to increase to almost 20,000 under Sláintecare. The health department needs a senior advisor to coordinate policy in this area and to bring HSCP expertise and experience to broader health service policy-making,” he said.

Fórsa has called for more support for care staff following reports that there were over 3,400 incidents where children in care or their carers were injured last year. Most of the injuries were to staff, with 1,663 cases reported last year in private centres alone. Another 50 incidents left staff in need of medical treatment.

The data, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Irish Examiner, covers incidents in special care settings, Tusla voluntary placements, and private centres. Most injuries to young people happened in private centres, where 251 incidents required first aid or medical treatment and another 66 were injured in accidents.

Young people referred to these services generally have complex psychological and sociological profiles, and have often experienced failed placements in the past.

Éamonn Donnelly, head of Fórsa’s Health and Welfare Division, said the union was striving to develop policies to reduce incidents. “We have to remember that these are difficult settings and it’s not realistic to eliminate all incidents. But the best course of action is to equip staff with the necessary skills and resources to deal with volatile situations,” he said.

He said support was also needed for staff who became overwhelmed from working in stressful and potentially violent settings.

Fórsa has sought an early meeting with the HSE after the health employer recently agreed to address variations in leave for hospital staff left behind in a recent standardisation exercise.

In a recent letter to the union, HSE management conceded that there was an ‘agreement in principle’ with the union, and that they would honour it.

The HSE standardised leave for most hospital grades in 2009. But when Fórsa looked for this to be rolled out to voluntary hospitals, it emerged that a significant number of grades – including pharmacists, clinical measurement professionals and play therapists – had been overlooked.

Following representations from the union, the HSE’s HR department has now produced a list of these grades, and invited the union to outline a specific claim for each.

The HSE said it would then “address any variations over an agreed period of time.”

Fórsa and other voluntary sector unions have given the HSE until the end of April to finish gathering data on pay restoration in section 39 organisations. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has agreed to facilitate a meeting to progress the issue in May.

In February, the WRC proposed a phased approach to the longstanding problem of state-funded section 39s that have failed to restore pay lost during the economic and funding crisis.

Unions agreed that data gathering should take place first, and that further talks would follow.

While Fórsa successfully pressed the HSE to agree to identify section 39 organisations that have the capacity for pay restoration within their present resources, the employers last week told the union that it had yet to gather enough data.

Forsa will ballot for industral action at section 39 organisations which are best identified as having the capacity to restore pay.

Section 39s are independent organisations operating in areas like homelessness and disability services, which that depend on State funding for some or all of their income.

The Department of Health is to draft legislation to allow 14,000 carers to benefit from free GP care. The legislation is to provide in law for eligibility for GP services without charge to be extended to all those in receipt of Carer’s Allowance or Carer’s Benefit.

Announcing that he had received Cabinet approval to draft the legislation earlier this month, Minister for Health Simon Harris said, "This Government recognises the need for further supports for those who are caring for the most vulnerable in our society.

“This measure will enable people who are in receipt of full, or half-rate, Carer’s Allowance or Carer’s Benefit to qualify automatically for GP care without fees. Carers willingly give up a great deal to provide care to family members and others, and I hope that this concrete support from the State for their mental and physical wellbeing will help alleviate some of the strain," he said.

Government plans to provide free GP visit cards, and additional spending on respite care, were announced last December.

The measures were welcomed by Family Carers Ireland. However, the family carers advocacy organisation said that, as only one in four carers actually receive Carer’s Allowance - mainly due to the means test - the group has called for all carers in receipt of the Carer’s Support Grant to receive the card, extending the service to 25,000 additional carers.

Further supports and information for carers are available from the HSE here.

Family Carers Ireland website.

A new website, which promotes health and wellbeing and provides access to information and resources for healthcare workers, has been launched by the Health Service Executive (HSE). 

The site aims to be a go-to resource by providing access to support and information for professionals across the healthcare sector.

The HSE also announced a social media campaign to encourage healthcare workers to take photos with #WORKWELL2018 signs to celebrate the launch of the site and raise awareness of the importance of workplace wellbeing.

The site provides information on the services available to workers, a contacts list, and information on legislation and trends in the sector. It also features information on policy, procedures and resources, as well as helpful tips from healthcare experts on maintaining mental and physical wellness.