Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

From memory the timeframe to recruit a consultant is in the region of two years. We are recruiting people and that is great and we are competing internationally as others are also trying to recruit but the timeframe is all wrong. The Minister needs to get under the bonnet of this, look at the steps that are being taken and strip away or shorten some of the time within this. We have had scenarios where hospitals have told us they have applied for maternity cover for a particular speciality at an early stage, they have since been granted the cover and they are delighted about that but the baby is born and is one-year old and the person who gave birth is back in the position. That is what is happening in our hospitals. When we ask our hospital management and staff to indicate at an early and advanced stage that they may be taking maternity leave, which they have no obligation to do, we must streamline that process. If it is taking that long then there is a serious problem.

We may be talking about the length of time it takes to recruit but if that is a speech and language therapist, that means there are dozens of children, whether they have autism or other speech impediments, who are not getting a service in cases. It means that their educational ability and attainment are curtailed because they have dropped out of a service that they needed during that period or because there is a delay in the service. It is life lasting and it has a serious impact on the development of a child. It could be a case of life or death in other specialties which cannot be carried out or in which there is a delay because the position is not filled.

The issue is the time it takes to fill a consultant post. The average time it takes to fill a consultant’s post is 513 days. I recognise that some posts are filled in a shorter period of time but some also take longer. We have evidence to suggest that positions are being offered to people who have no interest in coming to more regional hospitals. A localised pull would help to curtail some of that but there are also a number of other suggestions. Giving more money to the PAS is one thing if it needs it but the process needs to be looked at. If it is still going to take the guts of two years to employ somebody then that is a problem. It should never take that long.

I am sure the Minister will hear this if he is engaging with hospitals and they say that where they are able to do a localised recruitment campaign, they are able to attract the nurses in. Letterkenny University Hospital is a case in point. Dozens of additional nurses will be going into the hospital through a localised recruitment campaign and they will be in place in January. There is a new ward lying empty in Letterkenny University Hospital because there are no staff to work in it. That is the problem with the PAS system and the centralisation of recruitment. We have capital investment in a hospital that is not staffed, that is lying empty and that can accommodate dozens of patients yet the staff to maintain that ward are not there and will not be there until the new year. That ward is only open to hold the beds when there are 30 or 40 people in the accident and emergency department. I am sure that is not unique to Letterkenny University Hospital but is replicated elsewhere.