Written answers

Thursday, 12 December 2013

Department of Health

Health Services Staff Issues

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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233. To ask the Minister for Health the options for the transfer of staff within the Health Service Executive, or for the HSE to utilise clinical staff resources within the service, in order to alleviate waiting lists for treatments; the services for which such transfers-utilisation of staff can occur; his plans for enhancing such transfers-utilisation of staff in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53642/13]

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Public Service Agreements 2010 - 2016 provide for the increased use of staff redeployment arrangements within the health service and across different sectors of the public service.

All staffing arrangements have to be considered in the light of the current budgetary pressures in the health service and the need to reduce the numbers employed throughout the public sector. This has been combined with a firm focus on improving public service efficiency and effectiveness. The Haddington Road Agreement provides for health service staff to increase their working hours. The value ascribed to this element of the Agreement is in the region of five million hours annually for the health workforce as a whole.

The Deputy will be aware that public hospitals are being reorganised into more accountable hospital groups. I am confident that the group structure will allow for more efficient deployment of human resources, facilitating effective and flexible use of staff, thus allowing a better response to service needs.

The HSE has been asked to respond directly to the Deputy in relation to the procedures applicable in the health service for such redeployment.

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