Professor Brian Lenehan:

Like Professor Cowan I compliment our NCHD workforce whose members do Trojan work on a daily basis. We have grown the number of NCHDs significantly in the past four years. We came from a very low base because of how we were funded heretofore. At the moment we have 421 NCHDs and 71 interns, which makes 492. As of yesterday we have 32.5 vacancies, which is 8%. There are a number of reasons for that. There are issues with work visas, onboarding and having applicants go through clearance and checks. This time of the year would normally have the highest number of vacancies because we changed over a significant workforce in July. We know where the problems are, including onerous rotas, the European working time directive, etc. We are working with the HSE and the performance management and improvement unit, PMIU, to bid for additional resources because you want an energetic, enthusiastic workforce of people who want to come to work rather than having them dreading coming in because they are facing into something they do not want to. We are working hard to improve the working conditions, terms and conditions and hours of work for our NCHDs because in the medical model they are the boots on the ground every day, together with their consultants who are the backbone. We need to do everything we can to improve their working conditions and terms and conditions. We need to encourage them to work in UHL and provide an environment they will be proud of and something they want to contribute to in the future.