Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Undoubtedly, it has been a challenge to recruit the number of staff that we have provided the budget for. Having said that, a lot of progress has been made. Last year, over 6,300 additional staff were recruited, which included over 1,700 nurses and midwives. This year, so far, just under 4,500 additional staff have been recruited. Therefore, between last year and this year, approximately 11,000 have been recruited. In such a relatively short period of time, it is the most significant level of recruitment that the HSE has ever embarked upon. The figures look challenging but from the information that the HSE is conveying to us, I understand that it expects that the figure of 4,500, which is quite possibly the position to the end of September, will rise to close to 7,400 by the end of the year. There will be a budget to continue with that recruitment next year. The key point the Deputy made is about the system and the pace at which recruitment is taking place.

All I can say to the Deputy is that this is an issue we have discussed at the Cabinet committee on health. We have provided the funding and we want to see the staff recruited to improve the quality of the healthcare we are providing to our people. It is a combination of the work of the PAS and the HSE’s internal HR system and the operation of that. We have asked that information would be brought back to the Cabinet committee on health and I would be happy to share whatever information I get once we receive it. The Deputy has made a particular suggestion about localised panels to increase the prospect of somebody being offered a job actually taking it up, which is a fair point, and to allow as much discretion at the local hospital level as possible. We will take those two points and convey them to the HSE. I want to repeat the point that the HSE has recruited about 11,000 people between last year and this year so far, which is a significant increase in the overall staff resources it has. It will be doing more before the end of the year and into next year but there is a need to see if we can make the system more efficient. Localised panels and more local recruitment at hospital level offer some potential and we will take that on board.