Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The winter plan was launched by the HSE on 24 September. It targets approximately 12,522 additional posts over the period of the plan, to the end of April next year. Budget 2021 provides for the retention of these posts on a permanent basis, plus an additional 3,426 whole-time equivalent posts, funding a total increase of approximately 15,738 positions. To date in 2020, the health workforce has increased by a net 4,292.

The number of staff employed by the HSE is identified through the staff census which is collected monthly.

The HSE staff census for October will not be reported until mid-November and the first progress report regarding the achievement of the winter plan targets will be available at this point. In short, the data for the first month of the winter plan have not come in yet. It is, however, collected on a monthly basis and I will be more than happy to share it with the Deputy. What he is doing is exactly right. Very ambitious targets and goals have been set and he is pushing to make sure they are achieved. I will work with him in that regard. I will be working very hard to ensure those targets and goals are achieved to the extent that is possible. I hope that will mean they are fully achieved.

Recruitment in the HSE has been ongoing at an accelerated pace throughout this year. Current increases were due to a number of measures, including the expedited recruitment from all existing recruitment pools, hiring student nurses as healthcare assistants, as we have just discussed, increasing the hours of part-time staff and rehiring retired clinicians. In recent weeks, the HSE has conducted a successful campaign to retain additional swabbers and contact tracers. It is envisaged that the equivalent of an additional 2,200 whole-time staff in this area will be funded by the end of the year.

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