Last week, the HSE rolled out a new employment plan, which, according to labour groups, will result in the termination of 2,000 unfilled roles and gravely jeopardise patient safety. The collective of unions that represent health service workers filed an objections letter on Monday, arguing that the proposed Pay and Numbers Strategy of the HSE was contrived without due consultation, and neglects to uphold legal requirements. The contentious hiring freeze which was implemented last November will be superseded by this strategy.
HSE’s chief executive, Bernard Gloster, announced earlier this week that an employment cap will be enforced, limiting the total to 125,420 full-time roles – this number is consistent with the number of filled, paid roles that were in place by the closing of December the previous year. Furthermore, the HSE currently plans to create approximately 2,300 roles to meet the needs of new projects this year, and is including about 1,000 hospice workers into the public system.
Earlier this month, Mr Gloster revealed to senior officials that the employee count in the HSE had reached an unprecedented high and continued to surge. The unions forewarned that the new strategy will result in the elimination of 2,000 roles across a variety of ranks, including nurses and other health-related professionals. As a result, roles that were financially-backed but unfilled by the end of last year face impending abolition, an outcome against which the unions have vowed to stand. They urged the HSE to provide more information on which financed roles are due for termination.
Albert Murphy, chair of the union collective and member of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, remarked that the Pay and Numbers strategy revealed last week is likely to sow seeds of hazardous situations for both the staff and patients in the healthcare system. Mr. Murphy emphasised the urgent necessity for dialogue with the unions and stressed that the staff count should reflect the number and needs of the patients. He iterated that this is the cardinal principle of the government’s own safe staffing framework, a principle that is currently in the process of being set in place. The unions have voiced their severe concern over probable unsafe staffing conditions and the compromise of patient care.
Kevin Figgis, the leader of Siptu’s health department, emphasised the urgency for all necessary measures to be taken to expand and maintain the workforce. Yet, he expressed concerns about potential policies that could hinder this crucial growth, escalate the possibility of outsourcing, and directly threaten the safety of both staff and patients.
In a similar vein, Ashley Connolly, leading the health and welfare sector of Fórsa, insisted on the HSE’s need for effective communication with unions to formulate a strategy safeguarding the services. Amidst these challenging circumstances, Fórsa’s members disclosed their worrying doubts about their capacity to deliver the services in a situation where it seems the positions vacant as of 31st December 2023 may not necessarily be filled again.
The HSE’s strategy designates a predetermined personnel level for each of its six regions, in addition to national services, that envisions “replacement, recruitment, and prioritisation” within the stipulated limit.
The idea of regionalisation strategy, stated Mr Gloster, ensures that the entire health service is not impacted by recruitment issues in some areas. “This circumvents the requirement for interventions at a nationwide level”, he relayed. He further elaborated that a health region or a national service holds the discretion to prioritise filling up of vacancies that might crop up within the allotted quota. Moreover, they retain the flexibility to reprioritise as needed, whilst still abiding by the national policy and guidance.
Separately, the body representing psychiatric nurses announced that its top brass would gather on Friday to contemplate collective action from the next week if Thursday’s discussions about staffing in mental health services do not progress satisfactorily.