Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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181. To ask the Minister for Health the staffing levels throughout the public health sector at all levels in the hospitals and community care; the extent to which they have been augmented in recent years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48440/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Government has allocated an additional €646 million in current expenditure to Health in Budget 2018, including funds for an additional 1,800 front line staff. The overall Health budget for 2018 is almost €15.3 billion. The HSE is currently finalising the 2018 Service Plan and will allocate the additional posts in accordance with service demands.

Following the economic downturn there was a significant fall in numbers employed across the health services, with the exception of consultant and NCHDs given the need to move towards a consultant delivered service and to improve compliance by NCHDs with the provisions of the European Working Time Directive. The attached table shows that the total number of staff employed in the public health services, including home helps, has increased significantly in the past three years as additional funding has become available, with an increase of over 10,000 staff.

Personnel Census below shows data For All Agencies Broken Down by Staff Category for September 2007, September 2014 and September 2017:

The need to increase the numbers of consultants, doctors, nurses and midwives in the public health service is a priority for this Government, the Minister for Health and the HSE despite a backdrop of global shortages in health professionals. At the end of September 2017 there were 2,951 whole time equivalent consultants in the public health services. This is 103 more than the end September 2016 figure and an increase of over 650 (665) in the past decade. At the end of September 2017 there were 6,286 whole time equivalent NCHDs, an increase of 311 compared with the end of September 2016 number and an increase of over 1,394 in the past decade.

Nursing and midwifery numbers at the end of September 2017 stood at 36,170 whole time equivalents. The number of nursing posts has increased by 632 in the 12 months from end September 2016 and by over 2,000 in the four years from end September 2013 to end September 2017. The Nursing Recruitment and Retention Agreement concluded with the INMO and SIPTU Nursing earlier this year committed to increasing the number of nurses and midwives by 1,224 additional permanent posts in 2017. The recent quarterly progress report on the Agreement from the HSE (30th Sept 2017) states that the HSE has filled 20% of the target posts. It is important to bear in mind however that most student nurses graduate in the autumn. The HSE is currently concluding the process of offering all graduating nurses and midwives permanent contracts. This is expected to deliver a significant increase in staff nurse numbers between now and year-end, given that most students who complete their training at the end of August are recruited in the 4^thquarter, following registration.