Posts cannot be allowed to be 'guillotined', unions tell HSE
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Healthcare unions have written to the HSE to express their concern over risks to patient safety arising from its new recruitment strategy, and said posts within the service cannot be allowed to be “guillotined”.
The ICTU Group of Healthcare Unions said there had been a lack of consultation over the HSE’s proposed Pay and Numbers Strategy, which they said fails to meet its legal obligations.
The unions said that the HSE has suppressed over 2,000 posts in the healthcare services across all grades — including nurses and other healthcare professionals.
They want the HSE to provide details of all funded posts to be suppressed under this new strategy, which sets out recruitment targets for the year and aids local decisions on filling available posts.
Ashley Connolly, who heads trade union Fórsa’s health and welfare division, said: “Healthcare unions are looking for practical solutions to the problem of safe staffing, and the proposed strategy does not solve that problem."
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation director of industrial relations, Albert Murphy, added that the proposed strategy would likely have a “very serious impact on patient safety and staff wellbeing”.
“Staff numbers need to be based on patient numbers and patient needs,” he said.
This intervention from unions comes after the lifting of the HSE’s controversial recruitment freeze last week, which had been in place since last October.
This freeze was entered into as part of a plan to address significant budget overruns in the health service.
On Sunday, July 14, HSE CEO Bernard Gloster said the recruitment freeze would end the following day.
Mr Gloster told RTÉ’s he had concerns about 4,000 “essentially unfunded” posts, but that this funding announcement would secure these roles.
It came after the summer economic statement earlier that week, where Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe outlined a two-year deal had been reached with the HSE and Department of Health after “significant” engagements.
Under the deal, an extra €1.5bn is being given to fund health this year — with a further €1.2bn for next year — but with pressure on the HSE to ensure value for money and productivity improvements.
In a statement, the HSE said there will now 2,350 new jobs advertised for this year after the lifting of the recruitment freeze.
"This allocation process is underway," it said.
"This provides greater oversight when responding to the needs of the population and prioritising appropriately. From today, approximately 10 people are authorised to put an individual on the payroll system.
"This new system provides the necessary checks and balances to ensure that recruitment stays in line with our commitment to Government."