THE IRISH MEDICAL Organisation (IMO) has said that the retention of a staffing ceiling by the HSE is a risk to patients’ safety. It said that while it welcomes the move by the executive to lift a recruiment embargo, the staffing ceiling “means that the health service’s chronic resourcing and staffing issues cannot be adequately addressed”.

The staffing ceiling was set based on numbers from December 2023, and prevents hiring staff that will exceed those numbers. It means that hospitals will not be able to hire more staff than they had at the time that the ceiling was set.

Dr Rachel McNamara, Chair of the Non-Consultant Hospital Doctors Committee (NCHD) of the IMO, said that the decision was “unsatisfactory”.

“There now cannot be any service expansion at a time when health services are extremely understaffed and under significant pressure to meet rising demand from a growing and ageing population.”

“The HSE has itself acknowledged that an additional 800 NCHD posts, targeted to certain sites, are needed to bring this cohort’s working hours back to a maximum of 48 hours per week,” she said.

A recent IMO survey found that 77% NCHDs are working beyond “safe and legal” hours.

A recruitment freeze on managerial and administrative posts was introduced last October, after employing over 2,000 more staff members than it had planned or budgeted for that year.

 Earlier this week, the Government announced that an additional €1.5 billion will be allocated for the health service this year. An extra €1.2 billion will be given for 2025.

The staffing ceilings have been set for the different regions and hospital groups, which cannot be breached, he said.

HSE Chief Executive Bernard Gloster said that “the limit is now given to a region which includes the hospital and the community which gives a greater chance of responding to the needs of the population and prioritising appropriately,”

“I’ve had to put in control mechanisms which weren’t there before and which have led us to this type of problem.

“For example, after tomorrow, there will only be about ten people in the country authorised to actually put somebody onto the payroll system.”

However, McNamara said that while it may bring temporary relief, it is not a long-term solution if the ceilings remain.

“Unless we staff each hospital and every community service appropriately it will simply be impossible to improve patient care and address wait times.”