Lib Dems call for better provision for NHS and care staff

Call for expanded death in service scheme

Alex Cole-Hamilton says care staff must not be treated as second-class citizens

EDINBURGH Western MSP and Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton has called for an expanded NHS death in service scheme to cover all health and care workers.

The party has already called for frontline staff confronting coronavirus to receive a £29 a day deployment allowance on top of their normal wages as soldiers do when they are on active service.

And it says the Scottish Government should pay for all the funerals of key workers who die trying to protect others from Covid-19.

The government has agreed all NHS staff providing frontline treatment to Covid-19 patients will receive full death benefits. However, Mr Cole-Hamilton said it did not apply to non-frontline workers or to workers in the care sector.

He said: “It is right that all returning staff in our NHS are eligible for the death in service scheme but the scheme is significantly less generous than that offered by the military.

“Similarly it is important to acknowledge that the battle against Covid-19 is not just taking place in hospitals. The Scottish Government must ensure that care staff are not treated as second class citizens once again.

“Expanding the death in service scheme to cover these workers as well as paying for the funerals of all key workers who die trying to protect others from this virus, would be appropriate in the circumstances and form an aspect of the recognition for their selfless hard work and sacrifice.”

The Lib Dems have also called for a guarantee of PPE so hospital and care staff can tackle each shift with all the fresh kit they need; a new, dedicated staff mental health and trauma helpline for frontline workers, which gets them straight to a trauma-trained counsellor; and a Coronavirus Service Medal for frontline staff.