Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for Health the number, if any, of maternity staff in Holles Street hospital, the Mid-Western Regional Hospital and elsewhere who will be re-employed following the conclusion of the early retirement scheme at the end of February; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8350/12]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 33: To ask the Minister for Health if maternity services will be affected following the departure of midwives due to the early retirement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8353/12]

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 59: To ask the Minister for Health if he has yet to receive an assessment of the way staff requirements and Health Service Executive national service plan cuts will impact on the southern hospitals group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8348/12]

Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Health if he has yet received an assessment of the way staff retirements and Health Service Executive national service plan cuts will impact on the western hospitals group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8349/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 24, 33, 59 and 62 together. I am aware of the impact the early retirement package will have on the provision of maternity services and indeed all services nationally and together with the HSE, we are committed to minimizing the impact through a range of strategies to be achieved through fast tracking new innovative and more efficient ways of using a reducing resource. I have requested the HSE to prioritise the ongoing delivery of safe services for patients and to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to ensure the avoidance of risk in the delivery of services for patients. The impact of the upcoming retirements requires a range of strategic national responses, together with specific local responses.

The most recent information available to me indicates that about 4,200 individuals will have left the health service between September 2011 and the end of this month. The corresponding whole-time equivalent figure is about 3,700. These figures are subject to change because, for example, of the time lags involved in collating data at national level. However, management at local and regional level have full details of the staff who have already left or will leave by 29 February. I should point out that over 2,000 individuals had already left by the end of January.

Planning for the impact of the end of the "grace period" began last autumn and a formal transition team for the health service is in place, chaired by an Assistant Secretary from my Department, comprising key HSE national and regional directors. Contingency plans have been developed locally for hospital and community services, reflecting risk assessments undertaken by each hospital/community manager. These have been reviewed at regional and national levels to ensure appropriate contingency measures are in place across all services.

I am satisfied that suitable arrangements are in place at national, regional and service specific levels to proactively manage the impact of staff exits on front line services. The focus is on protecting and maintaining critical front line services such as Emergency Department, maternity, critical care and neonatal services.

The recently approved HSE National Service Plan 2012 acknowledged that there will be an inevitable and unavoidable reduction in services this year because of the scale of the financial and staffing challenge facing the health service. Obviously, I would prefer to have more funding available for our health services but the reality is that this is not possible right now. I believe there is, therefore, a particular onus on all of us working in the health services to be as innovative and flexible as possible in order to mitigate the impact on services of reduced budgets and staffing.

The mitigation measures which are in place include the backfilling of certain critical posts. However, the main focus is on reform and achieving greater productivity. The National Clinical Programmes are already delivering improvements in day of surgery admission rates, increases in the proportion of care that can be delivered on a day case basis and other productivity improvements designed to provide a better quality service to patients at less cost. I very much welcome the clinical leadership that is being provided in this regard. I also want to acknowledge and welcome the improvements in productivity that are being delivered by staff at local level through the Croke Park agreement in relation, for example, to staff redeployment, streamlining of management structures including clinical management roles, changes in skill mix and more cost effective rosters.

The National Service Plan has already been published and the regional service plans are in the process of being finalised and published. However, the need for dynamic and proactive management of the impact of reduced budgets and staff will remain and will continue beyond 29 February.