HSE Covid Swabbing roles

Cassius99

I know that people are receiving offers for Community Testing roles at the moment and I would like to get your opinions.

A relation of mine is in the running for the role, but has a somewhat stable job at the moment. They are beginning to wonder is it still worth going for the job, as they are worried that the 6 month probationary period will be used as an excuse to lay them off if positive test numbers keep somewhat static? Is that possible, or even likely?

pegdrums

I actually asked in my interview what would happen when demand for testers drops. I was told that as it was a 12 month contract we would be re-assigned for the remainder of our contract.


that's all I can offer Im afraid.

pegdrums

I have finally been successful in submitting my Garda vetting form. It kept getting sent back cos of his I was filling out the period I was travelling for.

How long has it taken some of ye to come back from the Garda as approved or whatever?

Rickwellwood

HI Folks...it took garda vetting about a week from submitting it to getting an email back saying " a disclosure had been made to the HSE" which is their roundabout way of saying that the vetting is done also the garda vetting site doesnt let you know what their disclosure says specifically.
In same boat re. somewhat stable work / taking the swabber job. Offer received, contract signed, my start date put back three weeks as apparently "test centre is only taking specific number of tests per day/week" and "will be in contact if any changes to this" ... not getting too excited tbh have spent a lot of time and effort giving them all the docs required as I'm sure everyone else has too.

pegdrums

Rickwellwood wrote: »

my start date put back three weeks as apparently "test centre is only taking specific number of tests per day/week" and "will be in contact if any changes to this" ... not getting too excited tbh have spent a lot of time and effort giving them all the docs required as I'm sure everyone else has too.

So hang on, they gave you a start date and then put it back? that's nonsense! That kind of carry on can leave people out of work. If that had been me I would have handed in my notice to my current employer (who has said I only need to give a weeks notice) and then I'd be out of work indefinitely according to them.
Hope they get you going soon. As you said there's a lot of monkeying around to get them everything they wanted.

What band were you?

condubh

I’ve had my start date pushed back as well. They just said they’re not running the training this week so I’ll ‘maybe’ get started next week.

Rickwellwood

Hi folks ..... Its not ideal for sure and I should have also stated in my previous post that the email I got putting the start date back said " start dates are subject to change" so I've not given anyone any notice thankfully. Basically with this carry on in mind my way forward now on this is to take annual leave for around the few days that I "start" and see how it goes. If its a disaster then I walk away quietly back to my other job. If not then I've another decision to make. I was in Band A.
So in general if returning doctors and nurses and clinical staff were having to go through this same type of hiring scenario and being strung along, bet they wished they'd stayed in Oz or wherever.
As I said in my previous post too, I'm not getting too excited on this but I know I'd probably like the work, if it happens.

beenhad

Ah that's awful, having the date pushed back! I started 3 weeks ago. Staff are lovely and most of them heading back to where they were redeployed from. Very chilled environment I have to say. Tests are down at the moment so they don't need as many swabbers. However cases going up so I'd say you'll be called fairly soon. Thank God you didn't hand your notice in. I think they should bloody pay you if you had done that. Good luck!

condubh

So now I have no idea when my start date is. Very frustrating.

Rickwellwood

Yeah its really frustrating definitely. While I have been given a start date a few weeks down the line however based on their "start dates subject to change" I'm still really apprehensive in doing anything notice wise as regards my current job. HSE/HBS could send me an email from some arbitrary email address the day before I'm supposed to start, like what has already happened per my previous post, saying the start date is changed using some auld excuse then I'd be rightly screwed

Naomif

condubh wrote: »

So now I have no idea when my start date is. Very frustrating.

Did your position get pulled too after the change in start dates?

condubh

Naomif wrote: »

Did your position get pulled too after the change in start dates?

They got back to me with a new start date for this week

Naomif

condubh wrote: »

They got back to me with a new start date for this week

That's great. My start date was pushed out and then they closed the job. Very disappointing.
Best of luck

condubh

Naomif wrote: »

That's great. My start date was pushed out and then they closed the job. Very disappointing.
Best of luck

Oh jeez. Can they do that? Did you sign a contract?

pegdrums

Just a quick question for ye.

I'm currently;y working through the online training stuff they asked us to do. How long did it take ye to do it all?

I've been at it 6 hours now.

Rickwellwood

It took me 10 hours to do them all --- its normal apparently

pegdrums

Christ. I'm doing as much of the reading as possible but some one of the documents is 100 pages long.....did you read the whole thing?

Some of the video links are duplicated and I'm watching all of them and taking notes.

Plus the system keeps logging me out and I have to reset password and stuff.....finished the children first section, over 2hrs. it was marked as complete and when I came back later it was marked not started!

Rickwellwood

tbh i didnt read all the long documents I just kept clicking "next" on the presentation/slideshow to try to get to the assessment at the very end of each of the modules, once the main tasks in the presentation/slideshow were completed, if that help any.
They admit themselves that the hseland site can be erratic and from experience its seems more likely to kick you out if the internet connection is patchy.
Hope that helps.

GalwayGrrrrrl

For these statutory HSE land courses you just need to pass and you can retake the exam at the end if you don’t pass. I did children’s first at work recently (I work for HSE in a different role) and it took me less than one hour. Don’t do any of the extra reading, just keep clicking through. The main aim is that you know your reporting responsibilities. Don’t get too bogged down in it. You have to retake these courses every couple of years so make life easy on yourself.

pegdrums

Cheers all. Done now. I think I started off trying to absorb AALLLL the detail which slowed me down a lot. Then i just kept going with whatever was in my learner record and not checking with the list they sent out in the email. Just checked the certificates section and I've 15 in there. I'm thinking I did one or two I didn't need to by accident/ sheer panic to make sure they were done before classroom training.

Do they give ya more stuff to do after the classroom training or is that all covered in the class?

Rickwellwood

All covered in training sessions

dercunx

Hello, I was just wondering if anyone is still waiting for a start date? I'm still waiting to hear back.

Jezzabelle

Hi for anyone thats started the role how is it going for you? What are hours like?

Still waiting on details of training for start date in early jan. Do you start training on the actual start date they give you or a few days before?

GalwayGrrrrrl

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/q-a-where-am-i-in-the-coronavirus-vaccine-queue-1.4446611%3fmode=amp Looks like some of the testing centres are getting changed into vaccine centres - possibly less swabbing roles available.

Bridgerton

Anyone still reply here, I have a contract signed with start date the day after tomorrow, but I've had no training yet, and no communication from the test centre about what time to arrive.
Also curious as to the work week, what the schedule is like, I don't know how many hours per day or how many days per week. I'm losing sleep over it!!

pegdrums

Hey, there should be an email of some sort of contact that you can get in touch with, either the trainer or whoever has been in touch with you so far. It's strange that they haven't been in touch so close to your start date. Maybe go to the test centre and ask for the co-ordinator and explain it to them, cut out all the mystery.


Shifts are 12 hr. 3 on 2 off, 2 on 3 off at our centre, Theres a 6 hr day once a fortnight.

Ddk2020

Hi
I’m starting this role soon. What do you recommended to wear for under ppe ?

pegdrums

Wear thermal top and bottoms, and layer up on top of that. Bring a bag with a jumper in so that way you can add to or remove layers as ya go.

If you're in an old warehouse and it's sleeting outside it can get pretty cold so better t waddle around like Micehlin man and be warm.
If you get put on other duties you can de-layer.

Good comfy shoes and warm socks!!

Ddk2020

pegdrums wrote: »

Wear thermal top and bottoms, and layer up on top of that. Bring a bag with a jumper in so that way you can add to or remove layers as ya go.

If you're in an old warehouse and it's sleeting outside it can get pretty cold so better t waddle around like Micehlin man and be warm.
If you get put on other duties you can de-layer.

Good comfy shoes and warm socks!!

Great advice!!

Thanks for the reply. There was no information in the welcome email about dress code or recommendations. I felt there might be an issue with the cold alright.

pegdrums

Ddk2020 wrote: »

Great advice!!

Thanks for the reply. There was no information in the welcome email about dress code or recommendations. I felt there might be an issue with the cold alright.

No dress code. You'll get scrubs to put over your normal clothes. A lot of people have a set of covid clothes for work.