COVID-19 sick leave for medical staff to be cancelled

(Archive photo)
photo: 123rf.com – RNZ / Composite image – RNZ

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has decided to cancel COVID-19 sick leave for healthcare workers from next week, despite a recent surge in confirmed cases and deaths.

From July 14, doctors, nurses and other health workers will no longer be able to claim special paid sick leave for Covid.

The Public Service Association (PSA), which represents 25,000 healthcare workers, has told its members to continue to stay at home if they are sick and to contact their union for support if they feel pressured by their employer.

Andrew Skelly, PSA national health director, said people working in healthcare must be able to stay home when they are sick or people’s lives would be put at risk.

“At a time when COVID-19 cases are surging, this is simply irresponsible – cancelling sick leave will lead to more COVID-19 transmission within hospitals among sick and vulnerable populations.”

He said the country had just emerged from its sixth wave of the pandemic in 30 months, with 55 people hospitalized a day at its peak.

The PSA is one of a number of unions urging the New Zealand Ministry of Health to reverse its decision.

“We have serious concerns about the impacts of long COVID and other significant health impacts on the health of everyone working in every department of the hospital, including staff, administrators, anesthesia technicians, social workers, etc.

“Healthcare workers are more likely to be infected with COVID-19 multiple times depending on where they work. Their employers should do everything they can to protect them and their patients.”

While Te Whatu Ora has advised managers to offer “discretionary leave” to staff who have used up their sick leave, such leave has been difficult to obtain or only paid once staff have returned to work.

“We have been given no justification. This appears to be another penny-pinching mechanism to eat away at public health at the expense of patients and staff,” Skelly said.

New Zealand Ministry of Health chief executive Margie Apa confirmed special coronavirus paid leave would be scrapped from mid-July but said the organisation would resume “normal support for sick staff”.

“Like other organisations, we will manage Covid-19 in the same way we manage other infectious diseases.

“We want our employees to come to work when they are well, and we continue to support them to stay home if they are unwell.”