Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I raise an issue mentioned by a colleague yesterday and in a national newspaper this morning. I refer to absenteeism in the health service. The health service appears to be unable to respond to the issues that cause absenteeism. For example, nurses who are pregnant are not assigned to lighter duties. One report said more than 50% of nurses who were pregnant were on sick leave for more than four weeks prior to taking maternity leave.

We need to respond to the demands of employees in order to reduce absenteeism. The HSE does not appear to have adopted a structured approach. The matter needs to be brought to the attention of the Minister and it would be appropriate to have a debate on it. How do we reduce absenteeism, particularly in the HSE and among nursing and administrative staff? It is easy to blame employees but employers need to anticipate why the problem is arising.

In one hospital, absenteeism among nurses between January and March of this year was 15%. That level of absenteeism cannot have been caused by employees alone. There must have been a total lack of response to issues by management. At a time when the health budget is overrunning and absenteeism is a huge cost, it is time this problem was tackled in a structured and proactive way.