Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 29 September 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021

9:30 am

Mr. Paul Reid:

It was January 2020. Of that total of 15,200 staff from January 2020, some 2,700 were recruited in 2022 to date. We are targeting between 4,500 and 5,000 staff this year. Of that figure I referred to, and to give a simple, high-level breakdown, nursing and midwives account for 4,500 of the staff recruited to date. They represent the highest proportion of our recruitment in recent years. These are net increases in staffing, by the way. There were 2,000 healthcare assistants recruited and 2,300 health and social care professionals. Therefore, it is not just nurses and doctors we recruit. We recruit across the board.