Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 23 October 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Staffing Levels in the HSE: Fórsa

9:30 am

Ms Linda Kelly:

I will add detail on that. Leaving aside the embargo, if a service wanted to hire a couple of physiotherapists or whatever posts are involved, it would do its paperwork and would get a number regarding that post when it is approved for filling. That would have gone up on SAP or SharePoint and be available for however the service wants to recruit. It was called a funded and approved post. A manager would have in their purview the ability to recruit into that. Those funded and approved posts always had a number and everybody was able to see those. Those are the vacancies we are concerned are being taken off the system. Managers will not be able to recruit and replace those. They will only be able to recruit and replace through the pay numbers, which we also understand is not happening. That is the differential.