Written answers
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Department of Health
Health Services Staff
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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724. To ask the Minister for Health the number of staff in public health across the country at each of the grades broken down by public health area; the plans to increase these numbers; the timescale for these increases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43924/21]
Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In September of last year, I committed to significant investment in Public Health when I announced plans to double the workforce by recruiting an additional 255 permanent staff, at an annual cost of over €17m.
In a highly competitive employment market, created by the pandemic, the HSE has to date filled 156 of these roles, increasing staffing levels in our Public Health system from 254 to 410 employees. The cyber-attack on the HSE has had an impact on this recruitment, in some cases extending the pre-employment timelines by a number of weeks. The HSE expects the pace of posts being accepted to quicken in pace in the coming weeks as campaigns close and move to the interview/offer stage. Recruitment for the remaining positions continues to be a priority for the HSE.
With regard to a breakdown of current staff across each public health area, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly on this.
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