Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 647: To ask the Minister for Health the amount spent by him and the Health Service Executive on agency staff in each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36167/11]

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 648: To ask the Minister for Health if there has been any instruction given to local Health Service Executive service providers to cease using agency staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36168/11]

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 649: To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider mandating the Health Service Executive to assign the budget used for agency staff to recruit additional front-line HSE staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36169/11]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 655: To ask the Minister for Health the names of agencies which provide staff for his Department and for bodies and agencies under its aegis; the services they provide; the numbers of staff they provide; the cost of those services; the way this compares with direct employment of staff in equivalent roles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36228/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 647 to 649, inclusive, and 655 together.

The Health Service Executive spent €117 million on agency staff in 2008, €108.3 million in 2009 and €153.4 million in 2010. The use of agency staff, including doctors, nurses, and healthcare assistants, has always been a feature of the health system and will be an ongoing requirement. Agency staff are used to fill vacancies that arise for a variety of reasons including sick leave, annual leave and maternity leave, and to ensure continuity of service provision.

The Employment Control Framework (ECF) for the Health Sector requires reductions in employment levels in line with the Government's fiscal and budgetary strategy. Notwithstanding this, some exceptions can be made in order to address critical service risks. Where possible and in the context of the moratorium, part time and work-sharing staff are being offered the opportunity to increase the number of hours they work before agency staff are used.

The ECF provides that while agency staff is not specifically included in the employment ceiling in the employment control framework such staff can only be made use of in exceptional circumstances to provide emergency relief for medical/professional staff providing essential frontline health, welfare and protection services. They may not be used to: substitute for management/administrative staff, substitute or replace temporary positions which have been terminated or posts which have been suppressed under this framework, or to effectively increase the numbers of staff employed in a body.

The decision to use agency staff is made at local service level. The reliance on agency staff is one of the expenditure items being reviewed as part of local cost containment plans. The new contracts for the provision of agency services put in place by the HSE earlier this year have resulted in significant unit price savings being available to the service, though service requirements in certain areas have resulted in a higher level of usage than anticipated.

The HSE has engaged the following agencies since in it introduced a new contract for the provision of agency staff in March 2011:

Nurse on Call - Agency Nurses to HSE South, HSE Dublin Mid Leinster & HSE,

CPL Health Care - Agency Nurses to HSE West, Agency Health Care Assistants to HSE South, HSE Dublin/Mid Leinster; Allied Health, Professionals and Social Care Workers to HSE South, HSE Dublin /NorthEast, and HSE Dublin Mid Leinster,

TTM Healthcare - Agency Allied Health Professionals & Social Care Workers to HSE West; Agency Health Care Assistants to HSE West,

Locum Express - Agency Doctors to HSE Dublin Mid Leinster and HSE West,

Global Medics - Agency Doctors to HSE South,

Agency staff costs can by broken down as follows:

a) Pay to agency worker,

b) Agency Commission as follows : Nurse on call 5.5%, CPL Healthcare 5.9%, TTM Healthcare 8%, Locum Express 8.75%, Global Medics 11.75%,

c) Employers PRSI at 10.75%,

d) Holiday and public holiday pay at 12%, and

e) Vat at 21% on all of the above.

The rates paid to agency staff are aligned to the consolidated salary scales approved by my Department. Agency Nurses are currently paid at either the 1st point of the salary scale or the 5th point of the 2010 salary scale and receive the statutory minimum in terms of annual leave. Agency Health Care Assistants are currently paid at 30% less than the 1st point of the approved salary scale and receive the statutory minimum in terms of annual leave. Agency Allied Health Professionals and Social Care Workers are currently paid at 15% less than the 1st point of the salary scale and receive the statutory minimum in terms of annual leave. Agency Hospital Consultants are paid at the approved salary scale for the job. Agency Non-Consultant Hospital Doctors (NCHDs) are paid approximately 20% more than the current approved salary scale. This is due to the shortage of NCHDs in the Irish market.

The information in relation to the Non-Commercial State Agencies is currently being collated by my Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available. Agency staff are not utilised within the Department of Health at any stage.