Finland's largest trade union for health and social care professionals, Tehy, has claimed that Tampere University Hospital ordered physicians and nurses to continue working despite being quarantined for coronavirus exposure incidents.
The union announced on Monday that it had filed a complaint with the Parliamentary Ombudsman about the matter.
Tehy said that the exposed healthcare workers had been ordered by the hospital into "practical quarantine." According to the hospital's policy, workers who have been ordered into practical quarantine are not, for example, to go shopping or use public transport, but can be permitted to return to work.
The trade union said the practice did not comply with laws in the Infectious Diseases Act.
"In our view, there is a risk here for both patient and staff safety. The employer is responsible for the occupational safety of personnel and, in our opinion, this [practice] endangers that," said Kari Tiainen, Tehy's legal services chief.
Conflicting opinions
However, Raija Ruoranen, Tampere University Hospital's HR director, said that their policy on practical quarantine was in line with guidance from the National Institute for Health and Welfare, THL.
"If the operations of a healthcare unit cannot be secured otherwise, an exposed worker who has not been diagnosed with a coronavirus infection can continue to work or return to work before the end of quarantine," Ruoranen said, noting that such workers are to use protective face masks and should not participate in the treatment of patients with compromised immune systems.
"Situations change very suddenly and solutions need to be found quickly. We don't have the room to manoeuvre in ways that resources can be removed without affecting other activities," she said.
The trade union said that the hospitals' practices were due to a shortage of trained nursing and doctor staff. Support workers who have been ordered into quarantine due to exposure incidents are not permitted to return to the workplace until the quarantine period has ended.
Juho Kasanen, a Tehy lawyer, said that similar practical quarantine policies have been utilised in other hospital districts in Finland.
News of the complaint filing was first reported by the union's magazine, Tehy-lehti.
Edited on 7.12.2020 at 18:15 to clarify the term practical quarantine, previously referred to as exceptional quarantine.
