Galway Bay fm newsroom - There's concern for therapy patients in the West as senior HSE therapists have been redeployed to Galway Airport and NUI Galway to take up the roles of Covid-19 testers and contact tracers.
The staff being redeployed include speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, who had previously been redeployed at the beginning of the pandemic.
According to the Irish Times, the HSE wrote to staff in Galway, Roscommon and Mayo, stating that serial testing in meat factories and food processing plants would begin this week.
It said all staff who were previously involved in testing activity are required to assist with this work on a full-time basis.
It's prompted concern over waiting lists for such services, and some staff who are being deployed have written to HSE management expressing their concern.
The Irish Association for Speech and Language Therapists says the redeployment causes essential services to be cancelled and could adversely affect children's development.
