Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 19 October 2023

Public Accounts Committee

Children’s Health Ireland and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Discussion

9:30 am

Ms Eil?sh Hardiman:

From the perspective of the healthcare agency spend, we try as much as possible not to rely on agency staff. Paediatrics is specialist and the agencies do not have staff available who meet our requirements. Some of our agencies are in niche areas and that is why we have to work internationally to get consultants in from the UK's National Health Service, NHS, and so on. In terms of our objective, we have already engaged in the commissioning programme and staff are already coming in. We have an immersion programme. It is like when we designed the hospital. They are coming together. They walk onto the ward where they will be working from all the hospitals. They learn about how it will happen. It is part of how they are-----