Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 February 2022
143. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Health his plans to reduce the extremely long waiting times persons are enduring in order to receive assistance from the EU Digital COVID Certificate helpline; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6901/22]
View answerThe EU Digital Covid Certificate service centre was set up in July 2021 to facilitate the distribution of EU Digital Covid Certificates. Booster certificates began issuing from the 6th of January 2022 and this saw a huge increase in demand on the service centre.
Prior to the issuance of booster certificates, the Service Centre was receiving between 500 and 600 calls per day. This figure rose to a peak demand of around 4,500 calls and around 2,000 chats per day in mid-January. The increased demand and the average wait time being experienced by callers resulted in extra agents being trained and added to the service centre, increasing the number of agents from 38 to 56. Additional resources were also added to the HSE data quality team to support the resolution of complex cases.
Since the end of January, call demand and wait times have decreased with approximately 2,000 calls per day and 1,800 chats at present and an average of between 50 minutes and 1 hour and 10 minutes wait time. Other service channels outside of calls are also open to persons seeking assistance including a self-service portal and Live Chat.
Given that the bulk of booster certificates have now been issued by email and post and that there is no longer a requirement to use the EU Digital Covid Certificate for domestic purposes, it is anticipated that wait times will be further reduced.
