Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 14 June 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Implementation of Sláintecare Reforms: Department of Health and HSE (Resumed)

Mr. Bernard Gloster:

They are not all full time. It will be varied. Equally, our management as a main category of staff has increased. It is the highest percentage increase since 2019. I expect that should reduce the dependency on management consulting, as we recruit, in particular, senior staff and skill-sets ourselves. It does not always follow. One does not follow the other. Having assessed it, I said the last time I was here that I would do that, in terms of cost reduction and reduced dependency. I have given the chief financial officer, CFO, a target this week to reduce that €113 million expenditure by 30% to commence in September for the last quarter of this year. The full-year effect of that would obviously be €35 million or €40 million. I am satisfied that we will be able to reduce that dependency without interfering with our progress or development. I am satisfied we should have enough people in house to meet that supplement. After that, I will have to look at it further. Basically, our dependency has just grown too high.