Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 5 December 2018

Select Committee on Health

Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary)

9:00 am

Photo of Louise O'ReillyLouise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes. The Minister of State mentioned that he would provide me with some figures on agency spending. He mentioned the issue of conversion. When we had Mr. Stephen Mulvany from the HSE before the committee, we asked whether specific targets were set relating to the conversion of agency staff. It appeared this was not the case. I keep going back to the figure of €346 million in savings. Some of the savings relate to conversion from agency, which is highly expensive and a rather inefficient way to run the service. Despite this, the Government is becoming more reliant on agency staff. If there were no targets in place for the conversion of agency staff, then it would seem that no attempt had been made to control it. HSE representatives have said to us that they try to convert from agency. How can this be the case if no targets have been set? Will the Minister of State give me some sense of how much of the €220 million budget was spent on agency staff? Of the €346 million budget, how much was identified for conversion?

The Minister of State remarked on planning and the demand led nature of the service. We have not had a major outbreak of disease. There is nothing happening in the health service that could not have been predicted by looking at Central Statistics Office data. We have an ageing population. It is a good thing that people are living longer and are healthier. There are no major unforeseen challenges. The Minister of State mentioned the storm. That was only a couple of days. There was no major outbreak of disease. There is no reason the Minister of State could not have looked at the CSO figures to enable him to plan ahead.

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