Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lawlor for raising this issue. The national recruitment service, NRS, is actively recruiting hospital staff, in particular for HSE hospitals. Voluntary hospitals tend to do their own recruitment. The NRS was established to deliver high quality, cost effective recruitment through a shared service model in line with Government policy. To date, the NRS provides the full recruitment service for all areas of the HSE, with the exception of non-consultant hospital doctors and home helps.

The NRS carries out recruitment for vacancies that have been approved for filling. Some 1,063 posts in the acute hospital sector were filled in 2014, of which two thirds were nursing posts. From January 2015 to date, 529 posts have been filled in the acute hospital sector, of which almost half are nursing posts. There are currently 1,687 posts in the process of being filled in the hospital sector, of which 914 are nursing posts. As the Deputy can see, a lot of recruitment is under way. In local services, 115 nurses have been appointed and 403 nursing appointments are being processed locally.

A significant number of panels have been created for disciplines within the acute hospital sector, including national panels for staff nurses and allied health professionals such as therapists and audiologists, and bespoke panels for posts such as clinical nurse specialists, pharmacists and medical scientists. Jobs are being offered directly to people on these panels, thus reducing the time period for appointment to a post. A high profile national campaign to recruit nurses and midwives is in operation. This includes national and local interviewing of general nurses, registered children's nurses and midwives. The HSE has also established an international recruitment steering group to focus on attracting and recruiting Irish trained nurses back home to practice and build their careers.

In terms of consultant recruitment, 38 hospital consultant posts were filled in 2014 in HSE hospitals and 36 have been filled this year, so, in the first half of this year, we have recruited almost as many as in all of last year. Ongoing recruitment of 193 consultant posts is in progress and this is carried out in conjunction with the Public Appointments Service. Further appointments have been made in the voluntary hospitals and non-acute settings.

There are some specialties in which there are international shortages and which have been traditionally difficult to fill, regardless of the salary scale. Shortages in specialties such as emergency medicine, anaesthesia and psychiatry are a worldwide phenomenon and not specific to the Irish health service. There are also some hospitals to which it has been historically difficult to attract applicants, in particular small hospitals which are not recognised for training and continuous development, CD, purposes. The establishment of hospital groups will help to address this issue, as it will allow staff to be appointed to the group rather than one hospital.

Finally, where recruitment difficulties apply, individual strategies are developed for these in conjunction with the line managers. Where front-line staffing shortages exist, the HSE makes alternative arrangements to ensure continued service provision, including recourse to agency cover. However, it is preferable that sufficient numbers of doctors and nurses are recruited to permanent posts to support continuity of care.

In regard to Naas specifically, I am told the hospital has 37 active nursing posts it is trying to recruit for at the moment. This comprises four promotional posts, which are at campaign stage, two posts that are at job offer stage and one post at contract stage. Thirty staff nurse posts are being processed locally, which means the posts are being interviewed locally, offered locally and the clearances and the contacts are being dealt with locally. The NRS is not processing these posts. Local HR at Naas General Hospital has advised that it is actively appointing these posts in partnership with the director of nursing. In most cases, it is waiting for the return of documentation from candidates and this documentation is necessary to appoint candidates. It should also be recognised that some candidates may be offered posts elsewhere and might take those posts, which means starting the whole process again. Local HR is actively following up with candidates in this regard in order to ensure the posts are filled as soon as possible.

It is news to me that it is being done through Tullamore. As the Deputy knows, Tullamore was the centre of the old Midland Health Board. To the best of my recollection, Naas was in the Eastern Health Board and was part of the South Western Area Health Board, so I cannot imagine why it would be done through Tullamore. I will certainly have that checked out.

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