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Aids questions for school staff
Charity claims policy is ‘out of date’
A LEADING national Aids charity this week clashed with Islington’s new school meals provider.
The row centres around a questionnaire being handed out by Cater Link to its 318 staff asking if they have Aids.
It has been slammed as “out of date” and insensitive by the Aids charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust.
The Trust is writing a letter to the caterers to educate them about how to deal more sensitively with personal health issues.
Unions are concerned how the company, which takes over the Islington contract from Scolarest in September, will use the medical information and fears staff could be discriminated against.
The 19-point questionnaire asks whether staff suffer a number of illnesses, including cholera, typhoid and “infectious conditions of the skin, nose, throat, eyes or ears” – with the inference being that many can be transmitted through handling food.
Medical experts say the disease is commonly contracted through unprotected sex with an infected person, through breast milk, sharing drugs needles and blood transfusions.
There are 65,000 people with HIV in UK, many of whom live normal lives with successful jobs. Mark Thompson, health manager for the Terrence Higgins Trust, says even Cater Link’s use of the word “Aids” is incorrect, with “HIV” being the correct term.
He said: “What are they going to do with this information if someone says yes?
“The question is unnecessary and very out-dated. There’s little or no reason for HIV being a problem for someone cooking or preparing food or anywhere in the food chain from picking to serving.
“Even if someone has got an open cut or sore, the risk is non-existent.”
Jane Doolan, branch secretary of Islington Unison, said: “You can imagine how our members are feeling.
“They are very, very nervous. We are trying to support our members as much as we can.”
Cater Link says staff are “not obliged” to respond to the questions and it wants the information in the event that they fall ill at work.
Ms Doolan will meet with Cater Link executives next week to discuss the contract.
The Terrence Higgins Trust will formally write to Cater Link to ask them to drop the question.
Mr Thompson said: “It is a really strange question and raises serious issues about people’s knowledge of HIV.”
Staff are also being asked to provide passports and birth certificates to prove they are not working in the UK illegally. Cater Link prides itself on creating “varied, healthy and enjoyable meals”.
But Ms Doolan said Scolarest, Cater Link’s much-maligned predecessor, did not ask such intrusive health questions.
Tony McKenna, managing director of Cater Link, said: “The purpose of the medical questionnaire is simply to enable us to understand staff medical requirements and to ensure we are able to provide appropriate assistance and respond effectively in the unlikely event of an emergency.” |
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