James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government has decided that the numbers employed across the public service must be reduced to meet fiscal and budgetary targets. The Deputy acknowledges this. The health sector must make its contribution to that reduction. The recruitment embargo, or moratorium, has achieved substantial reductions in employment in the public health service.

The number of staff employed by the health service has reduced from 111,770 wholetime equivalents, WTEs, at the end of March 2009 to 99,959 WTEs at the end of December 2013, a reduction of 10.6% or over 11,800 WTEs. The reduction in employment numbers was monitored by my Department in conjunction with the HSE and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform through the joint employment control monitoring committee up until the end of 2013. The functions of that committee have now been subsumed into the work of a joint monitoring committee on finance, performance and employment which has representation from the HSE, my Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of An Taoiseach.

The recent establishment of the Child and Family Agency resulted in over 3,000 WTEs being transferred from the HSE to the Child and Family Agency on 1 January 2014. The new Child and Family Agency will also be subject to the recruitment embargo or moratorium. The health service is further required to cut employment levels to 94,209 WTEs by the end of 2014 from a work force of 96,582 WTEs at the end of January 2014 and the HSE national service plan provides for an additional 500 WTE development posts, primarily in primary care and mental health services as well as the filling of development posts funded and approved in previous years.

In order to mitigate the impact on front-line services of the reduction in employment numbers, the priority is to reform how health services are delivered in order to ensure a more productive and cost-effective health system.

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Therefore, the HSE has been using the provisions of the public service agreements to bring about greater flexibilities in work practices and rosters to achieve more efficient delivery of services. The Haddington Road agreement provided the health service with over 5 million additional employee hours. These hours are being used to replace staff who have left, to allow for further employment reductions and to reduce spending on agency staff and overtime. The agreement also provided for the employment of up to 1,000 nurses on the graduate nurse initiative and 1,000 interns under the support staff intern scheme outside the HSE’s employment ceiling.

Nearly 500 nurses and midwives have commenced employment in recent months on the graduate scheme, with over 200 others currently going through the recruitment process. Almost 250 support staff interns have commenced employment with approximately 700 going through the recruitment process.Subject to approval by senior managers, arrangements are in place in the HSE to allow the recruitment of staff where it has been established that there is an urgent service requirement.

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