Mr. Paul Reid:

I know we are tight on time so I will be brief. To reassure the Deputy, there is a forward planning function and strategic planning function within the HSE. We would not have been able to recruit - and I know she is not interested in the numbers - but for us to stand alone in any given year and just stay net or stay the same, we need to recruit 10,000 people. We have recruited 15,200 people since January 2020 above that each year. We require 10,000 to stand still, but have achieved a 15,000 net increase. To demonstrate the mix, the strategic element of that has been to get the mix right and better as regards the predominant services. I am happy the mix of recruitment in the HSE has fundamentally changed. That includes 2,300 health and social care professionals, 4,500 nurses and midwives. That is the highest number ever achieved. For the first time ever in the past three years, every graduate nurse is guaranteed an appointment in the HSE. That has never happened before. The mix has fundamentally shifted because of strategic recruitment and forward planning. We have a dedicated unit in the HSE on strategic recruitment. We put in a new recruitment model, which includes a combination of in-house and an outsourced model to help us recruit. We have delegated certain levels and grades within that mix of recruitment to the regions and the CHOs and we engage in forward planning. We have fundamentally changed the recruitment model in the HSE and we would not have achieved the numbers we have achieved without the forward planning function. I want to reassure the Deputy that it exists.