Healthcare workers need priority treatment on our roads
Labour Party TD for Dublin Fingal, Duncan Smith, has called for priority treatment for HSE staff on our roads.
Deputy Smith said:
“As part of Operation Fanacht, we are seeing the Gardaí implement more checks on our roads and are rerouting many drivers at this time, including nurses and doctors who are en route to and from our hospitals.
“While obviously Operation Fanacht is a key plank of the State’s response against the further spread of Covid-19 this weekend, we need to have a smart response to ensuring frontline health staff get to where they need to be in a timely manner.
“Anecdotally, we are hearing stories of nurses and doctors sitting in traffic for long periods of time following a long work shift, for their journey home to be made longer because of rerouting.
“I’m calling on the Ministers for Transport and Health to come together to grant HSE frontline staff who are driving to and from their place of work special road permits that allow them through the road checks as part of Operation Fanacht seamlessly.
“Our healthcare heroes are stressed enough, we need to make sure that they can get to and from work with as little getting in their way as possible.”