We need clarity on HSE staff numbers

IN his Budget 2018 speech in August, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe announced an increase of €645million in health spending.

To much fanfare, he said this would provide for the recruitment of an additional, 1,800 staff.

This claim appeared in the speech, and was widely reported in the media at the time. The clear signal was that these 1,800 people would be frontline staff, and over and above existing levels.

However, yesterday, HSE director-general Tony O’Brien was asked about the 1,800 new posts, which did not appear to be mentioned in the organisation’s own strategic plan. He appeared to state, in his response, that the majority of the 1,800 jobs were in fact simply replacing HSE staff who retire or leave the service for other reasons. (In fact, every year, some 1,200 to 1,800 people do so).

On top of this, Mr O’Brien suggested that some of the ‘new’ roles will be what are known as agency conversions, which is when a health service worker hired through an agency contract is recruited to the permanent staff.

That is good for the individual, as he or she benefits from permanent and pensionable employment, but there is only an increase in the official staff number, not in the personnel delivering the service.

Besides those roles, the other possibility of an increase in numbers is when a new unit or more beds are opened, and the staff cost is built into the overall budget.

All of this is extremely puzzling. Was Mr O’Brien referring to the same 1,800 jobs as the Finance Minister? If so, how many represent an actual overall increase in the number of people working in the health service – as opposed to people who will carry on doing the same work but will be employed directly by the HSE rather than by an agency?

In subsequent literature put out by the Government, the clear commitment to ‘extra’ or ‘additional’ staff has disappeared, raising further questions about the numbers.

The public were entitled to believe from what the Finance Minister said in his budget speech that by the end of 2018, 1,800 more frontline staff would be looking after patients than in October 2017. If that is the case, then the minister should explain clearly and simply precisely where those new roles will be created, and how and when they will be filled. If, however, the quoted figure represents the same people being employed in a different way, or people who leave being replaced, then the position should be made clear and the record should be corrected.