Fine Gael’s health spokesperson has said student nurses and midwives who are asked to carry out the duties of full-time staff are entitled to be paid.

It comes after the Government voted against a motion calling for student staff to be paid for working while on placement during the coronavirus pandemic.

The motion was brought forward by Solidarity/People Before Profit who warned that students were being used as “skivvies” to plug staffing gaps in the health service caused by the pandemic and the recruitment and retention crisis.

The party pointed to its ‘Behind the Mask’ campaign which heard from hundreds of student nurses and midwives warning that they were being asked to work 13-hour days on the frontline of the pandemic without pay.

On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Fine Gael health Spokesperson Colm Burke said students who are asked to carry out duties outside of their clinical placement are “absolutely entitled” to be paid.

“If their role goes beyond doing clinical placement and they end up doing work, then that is a different category and they have to deal with that as a management level,” he said.

“They should not be put into a situation where they are required to carry out work that is beyond the clinical placement guidelines.”

. @ColmBurkeTD says student nurses should approach their college if they carried out duties beyond their clinical placement pic.twitter.com/KgqYTyFeMR

— The Hard Shoulder (@TheHardShoulder) December 3, 2020

He said students who feel they are being asked to go above and beyond the “clear definition of clinical placement guidelines” should now take it up with their colleges.

"If they are deemed to be going beyond their clinical placement, yes, they are entitled to be paid for that work," he said.

Fine Gael’s Colm Burke waits to speak at a conference in the Castle Bar Convention Centre, 21-02-2015. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

“If trainee nurses go back to their college and clearly set out that they are going beyond their clinical placement duties, then it is for the college to deal with the hospitals and deal with the issue in relation to payment.

“If there is clear evidence that they were required to carry out duties beyond their clinical placement, yes, they are entitled to get paid.”

He said the Government had heard from student nurses on the issue – but not from the colleges themselves.

Student nurses

Student nurses and midwives were briefly paid for their work at the beginning of the pandemic and yesterday’s Dáil motion called for that to be reinstated.

It was defeated by 77 votes to 72 – with Fine Gael, Fine Fáil and the Greens voting against it.

Richard Boyd Barrett speaking outside the De Le Salle School site in Ballyfermot, Dublin, 05-02-2020. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Responding to Deputy Burke on the show this evening, Solidarity/People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the health service would have collapsed if student nurses were not there to fill staffing gaps and “protect us all in the wards in the midst of pandemic.”

He said student nurses all over the country have already made it clear that they are going far beyond the duties included in the clinical placement guidelines.

“The evidence has been provided,” he said. “It was provided last night with direct quotes from student nurses.

“The testimony is being provided all over the place by thousands of student nurses who are describing in graphic detail that they are working on the front line.”

"Fantasy stuff"

He said the Government’s position on the issue amounts to “fantasy stuff.”

“We have a behind the mask campaign online which has direct quotes and experiences from hundreds of student nurses and midwives describing the reality of what they do,” he said.

“Working on wards with maybe one nurse, multiple patients, COVID patients and literally those patients would not be looked after without their work.

“Even pre-COVID they were doing this – filling the gaps of a massively understaffed health service.

“There are now 50 healthcare workers a day going sick; most of them are nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants. It is the student nurses who are filling those gaps and are themselves, in many cases, getting infected with COVID.”

Fees

He noted that “incredibly” the students are also paying college fees of between €3,000 and €7,500 while not being paid.

“They are paying and paying through the nose for the privilege of working on the frontline protecting us all,” he said.

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