Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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90. To ask the Minister for Health the number of professionals who have been hired by the HSE since he launched the winter plan; the total increase in HSE employment that this represents in net terms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33477/20]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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The Minister will be delighted to hear that this is a question I probably will ask him every month for the duration of his Ministry. It relates to the number of health professionals the HSE has hired since the launch of the winter plan, the total increase this intake represents in net terms and the total HSE employment numbers. The Minister has made some deep and serious commitments on which I 100% want him to deliver. I would like to get a report month by month on their delivery.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I have not forgotten the offer the Deputy made previously and which he undertook to make good if we get the numbers to 10,000 by the end of the winter plan.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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I will honour that offer.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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I will refresh the Minister's memory and that of the House as to what these commitments are. There is a commitment to hire 8,500 staff by the end of next month, 12,500 by the end of April, and 16,000 by December of next year. Again, that is 8,500 by the end of December. I am really looking forward to getting that document on 15 November because massive progress must obviously have been made over recent months. We know there are issues in respect of recruitment. We have seen this in the area of contact tracing. What really brought this home to me, however, was when I asked a parliamentary question, the answer to which told me that we had 200 fewer permanent nurses in August than we did in December of last year. How could that happen? The Minister told me that we have nearly 2,000 extra contract staff. That is even more concerning. Does the Minister's management consultant experience not tell him that 2,000 whole-time equivalent staff not being offered permanent contracts represents a systems failure?

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I am afraid I do not have details in this regard with me as the issue was not mentioned in the question. The Deputy raised a report of the total number of staff being lower, which I looked into because I was very perplexed by it myself. It turns out that the total number of hours being worked when expressed as whole-time equivalent staff had, in fact, increased quite significantly.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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It was an increase of 1,800.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, but what the Deputy and I both want to see is faster recruitment. As I said in the House earlier, there is a lot of opportunity to improve recruitment processes. When the Deputy and I joined nurses and midwives on the picket line last year, they were not talking about pay increases but about safe staffing levels. I hope that, as the number of staff increases in accordance with the safe staffing agreement, the HSE across the board becomes a place where our own graduates and clinicians want to stay and work, as it already is in some areas. I hope it becomes a place where people from across the world also want to work.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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The Minister is going over old ground. We have been over the issue of whole-time equivalents before. I actually gave him the figures the last time as well. It is perplexing and wrong that these are not full-time positions. It would be helpful it the Minister could listen to me. It is perplexing and wrong. Will the Minister please explain to the House why these 1,800 people are not on full-time contracts? Will he please explain how that is not a systems failure? In the limited time we have, will he also please update the House on what he has done to bring in more consultants? He is really out on a limb on that question.

I have heard the Minister speak about changing the way in which recruitment is carried out, decentralising it and giving more hiring power locally. I actually agree with him 100% on that, but what has he done to achieve it? Will the Minister also inform the House of the percentage of those who have been recruited when he gives us the figures in a week and a half's time? We also need to be careful about the process of recruitment. We may have real issues in other healthcare areas because recruitment will be from a smaller pool, that is to say, we may be taking people from nursing homes and so on.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I will answer the last point first, as it is an issue I have looked into. The HSE has explicitly stated that it is not targeting healthcare professionals in nursing homes. It has, however, stated that it has its own ambitious hiring targets and that it cannot stop people from nursing homes applying. To refer to something I believe I have heard the Deputy mention, one way to keep healthcare professionals in nursing homes would be to carry out a review of that sector and of the pay and conditions within it. One of the reasons people are moving is that they see better pay and conditions elsewhere. That is one of the things I want to see.

With regard to the figures the Deputy is looking for, I take note of the time but I am happy to answer in writing and also to discuss the matter further with him.