EBOLA nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who nearly died after contracting the virus while treating patients in Sierra Leone, has not been given a £4,000 bonus many of her colleagues have received, five months after union leaders first took up the case.
READ MORE: Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey: 'No medics available when I called NHS helpline'
Ms Cafferkey, from Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, and 200 other NHS volunteers through UK Med have not received a bonus for their involvement in tackling the outbreak in west Africa awarded to 250 staff from Public Health England staff, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and Public Health Wales (PHW).
David Cameron's response. Source: parliamentlive.tv
Ms Cafferkey, who contracted Ebola while volunteering during the outbreak, has twice had to be treated at a specialist infectious diseases unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London after coming down with the virus.
READ MORE: Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey: 'No medics available when I called NHS helpline'
The issue was raised by the nurse's MP, Margaret Ferrier, at Prime Minister's Questions, who called for a meeting to discuss the failure to give bonuses to volunteers recruited through UK-Med.
UK-Med had co-ordinated volunteers from the NHS willing to support the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) response in West Africa through its International Emergency Medical Register.
David Cameron described the Scottish nurse as "one of the bravest people" he had ever met, said he was unaware of the issue, and pledged to look into the issue after it was raised in Prime Minster's Questions.
It has emerged that Unite wrote to the government in February over what it called a "two-tier" bonus payment scheme for volunteers in life-threatening situations.
It said that a one-off payment given to 250 staff from PHE, DSTL and PHW was being withheld from volunteers in the NHS and academia who were working in the same dangerous conditions.
In two letters to the International Development Secretary Justine Greening, Unite’s healthcare sciences national committee chairman Ian Evans called for the Government to address what he described as “huge inequality”.
The payment included a deployment allowance of £516.50, an operational working allowance of £3,615.50 and a tax free clothing allowance of £100.
But Mr Evans said there was a caveat attached that these payments would be for PHE, DSTL and PHW colleagues only.
"We all acknowledge that colleagues who volunteered to be deployed did not do this because there was a financial incentive, but it does not excuse a two tier payment scheme,"
he wrote.
Responding to the issue, the PM said: "I'm very pleased you have raised this issue.
"Pauline Cafferkey is one of the bravest people I have ever met and it was a great privilege to have her come to Number 10 Downing Street.
"And also I am proud of the fact that she, and many others I believe, have received the medal for working in Sierra Leone, which is something Britain should be incredibly proud of.
We took the decision to help partner with that country, to deal with Ebola, and it is now Ebola free.
"I'll look specifically into the issue of the bonus, I wasn't aware of that issue and I will get back to her about it."
READ MORE: Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey: 'No medics available when I called NHS helpline'
His remarks came after the SNP's Ms Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) said NHS volunteers had missed out on the payments and added: "Will the Prime Minster agree to meet with me to discuss how DFID can rectify this situation?"
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was declared over on January 14, this year, after more than 11,000 deaths in nearly two years.
The full question and answer session. Source: parliamentlive.tv
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel