Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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Question 179: To ask the Minister for Health the number and percentages of reduction in staff in the following grades, namely, nursing, medical-dental, general support staff, management-administration, health and social care professionals and other patient and client care staff for the period 3 March 2010 to 31 March 2011; the expenditure for overtime, agency staff and retired staff regarding those employed for the following grades nursing, medical-dental, general support staff, management-administration, health and social care professionals and other patient and client care staff for the period 3 March 2010 to 31 March 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16705/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The reduction in the grade categories from March 2010 to March 2011 is outlined in Table 1.

Data Source - Health Service Personnel Census. The comparison between March 2010 and March 2011 are not directly comparable for the following reasons:

Note 1: Not included in the March 2010 figure is 260 WTE in the National Cancer Screening Service which was brought onto the HSE's census in late 2010

Note 2: From 1 January 2011, Community Welfare staff have transferred from the HSE to the Department of Social Protection on secondment. Therefore, the decrease in 2011 includes the effect of this transfer (960 WTE).

Note 3: The decrease to March 2011 also includes the effect of the Voluntary Early Retirement / Redundancy Scheme at the end of 2010 (1,626 WTE)

Note 4: Not included in employment at March 2011 in the table is 374 WTE in the Nurse Banks in the Dublin Academic Teaching Hospitals

Table 2 below provides details of Overtime and Locum/Agency expenditure from 1 March 2010 to 31 March 2011

These figures relate to Overtime and Agency Expenditure for both Statutory and Voluntary Health Care Providers. It should be noted that the categorisation of grades into grade categories on the HSE's Financial system is different to that used in the HR census. Therefore, the categories are not directly comparable.

In relation to payments made to retired staff, the HSE has advised that it is not possible to obtain figures from March 2010 – March 2011 as this information is collected on an annual basis for the purpose of producing the Appropriation Account.

The recently published 2010 Appropriation Account states that 773 retired staff received payments for services in 2010. The cost of these services amounted to €14,619,549.

The following Table 3 provides a breakdown of this number by staff category and amount paid from January to December 2010.

These figures relate to payments made to retired staff in the HSE Statutory Sector only.