Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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662. To ask the Minister for Health the reasoning behind utilising agency staff in the healthcare sector when others are waiting recruitment on panels having passed the initial recruitment process. [3549/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Agency staff are utilised to address short term gaps in staffing resources, where there is a critical service need. Agency staff are appointed by the local clinical site, and are generally only appointed as a last resort and when it is not possible to immediately source a healthcare professional who will be employed directly by the clinical site.

The HSE continues to expedite recruitment for those on recruitment campaign panels, and to onboard them as soon as possible. Recruitment and staffing levels have increased significantly since the start of the pandemic, particularly in frontline staff groups. The Department continues to work with the HSE to ensure their recruitment targets can be met. At the end of December, the public health service workforce had a total of 126,174 WTE, which is an increase of 6,357 WTE since the end of December 2019. The HSE will continue recruiting permanent staff into 2021, with a goal of recruiting an additional 15,838 WTE from the end of 2019 baseline.