Thousands of nursing home staff are still waiting on pandemic bonus payment

Around 46,000 staff who worked on the front line during the Covid-19 crisis in nursing homes and other care facilities are still waiting for their €1,000 pandemic recognition payment.

Latest figures show that  86,000 non-HSE staff who are eligible for the Covid bonus are still waiting on it.  It is now over 10 months since the payment was announced by the Government.

From the overall figure, 46,000 employees work in 446 nursing homes and 13 hospice groups. 

Nursing homes were particularly hit during the first wave of the pandemic 

In recent weeks, more than 2,000 letters of protest have been handed to the Department of Health from nursing home staff still waiting for their pandemic bonus.

Many expressed their disappointment at the delay stressing the difficult conditions they endured, watching elderly patients die, and then coming home and putting the lives of their own families at risk.