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ONE IRISH HOSPITAL spent €7.1 million on agency staff between 2009 and 2011.
Health Minister James Reilly told the Dáil yesterday that Waterford Regional Hospital spent in total €800,000 in 2009, €3.1 million in 2010 and €3.2 million in 2011 on agency staff.
Medical agency costs, which accounted for the bulk of agency expenditure, were €300,000 in 2009, €1.9 million in 2010 and €2 million in 2011.
Minister Reilly gave the figures in response to a question from Deputy John Halligan. He commented:
However, I am informed that since October 2011 the hospital has eliminated its expenditure on medical agency costs through a combination of cost saving measures and the recruitment of non-consultant hospital doctors. The remaining agency costs are largely for paramedical and support staff.
The Minister also said that Waterford does not incur significant expenditure on agency nurses compared to other hospitals.
The HSE national service plan commits to a reduction of up to 50 per cent in agency costs and Minister Reilly said that health service employee numbers must be reduced to approximately 102,000 by the end of the year as part of the Government’s drive to reduce public expenditure.
The number of employees in Waterford Regional Hospital dropped from 1,851 in March 2009 to 1,720 in December 2011.
Minister Reilly said that a significant portion of the reduction is accounted for in the management administration and general support staff grades.
Deputy John Halligan said that around 60 service workers will have retired by the end of February and that he believed rising waiting lists for elective procedures at Waterford Regional Hospital “will inevitably follow” the closure of two operating theatres at the hospital.
He said he has also been advised that staff shortages will lead to the closure of a further 30 beds.
Halligan noted that the HSE has increased the amount of money spent on agency workers by 75 per cent over the past three years.
He said:
Between March and October 2010 alone it spent €67 million on temporarily filling full-time posts, including 167 non-consultant hospital doctors and 489 agency health care assistants.
He put it to the Minister that this meant the recruitment embargo is failing.
“It is not true to say the embargo is failing,” said Minister Reilly.
The Deputy is right to point out the additional costs that agency staff incur. The agency staff directive, which insists that they be given the same terms and conditions as permanent staff, equally indicates that the base rate for agency staff will have to fall. The reason they were paid more was because they did not have the same rights. They cannot have it both ways.
He said that the reliance on agency staff has been reduced considerably by the increased use of non-consultant hospital doctors.
Minister Reilly told the Dáil in November 2011 that the HSE spent €117 million on agency staff in 2008, €108.3 million in 2009 and €153.4 million in 2010.
He said the use of agency staff, including doctors, nurses, and healthcare assistants, has always been a feature of the health system and will be an ongoing requirement.
Agency staff are used to fill vacancies that arise for a variety of reasons including sick leave, annual leave and maternity leave, and to ensure continuity of service provision.
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What a joke our health system is, we have thousands of nurses taking their redundancy now and without a doubt many of these will register with agencies and be back in the same hospitals again getting paid more than before they left, and also getting their pensions as well as having a fine fat redundancy package tucked away. Surely if there are jobs to be filled-be it for holidays, sick leave etc first priority should be given to young newly trained nurses to allow them the opportunity to build up their experience. We have the same situation with teachers, I know many schools who call in retired teachers to cover when somebody is off. If a civil servant retires and gets a very generous retirement package as well as being eligible for their pension then that should be it, no going back to the same job through some back door system.
It’s not redundancy. They’re retiring. Redundancy is not available to nurses, unfortunately.
It seems obvious to me that they need to hire new direct staff on Different, Cost effective but fair contracts. Allowing the HSE not to spend so much on Agency staff but also not have crazy contracts insuring a security guard would be earning 50k or more after x amount of years service.
Waterford Regional hospital is the Center of excellence and major heath care center for Waterford City, Co Waterford, Co Wexford, Co Kilkenny, South Tipperary and Most of Co Carlow.
Closing two theaters and a further 30 beds is Insane. Primary care in those surrounding counties are also being reduced sending most patients to Waterford Regional. If anything there should be more focus put on streamlining and Investing on these hospitals. Otherwise why the hell do we have a public health system at all?
This is our new Health Care System, a privatised Health System. As a result of the stupid employment embargo what choice is there but hire agency staff who, due to a recent EU ruling must be paid at HSE rates, but as they are employed by agencies and not Public Servants are not subject to the same levies as their PS counterparts.
If this employment embargo continues there will be almost no staff actually employed by the Public Service, they will instead be working for agencies, our entire Health Service will have been privatised under this joke of a government.
These agencies themselves are making a nice tidy proffit at the expence of the Irish people, but who’s behind them, who owns them and who gains to have the embargo continue?
Agree totally Brian. The whole embargo on public service employment is a joke. It is probably costing more in the long run when the agency fee is added on. But agency staff are not better off – they have no job security and when applying for things like bank loans etc are treated differently than if they were PS staff because their jobs are not looked at as permanent. And most of the agencies have not paid the extra money due under the employee rights directive and the government seems to be ignoring it. Also admin in most of the hospitals is top heavy with people who have been there for years, don’t want to know about redeployment or upskilling and have a union behind them to ensure they can sit tight and ride it out to retirement age and no one can move them. Or else as u say they retire and immediately come back to their own position. The whole thing is a farce. And James Reilly is only tinkering round the edges – that’s all he’s allowed do by the powerful PS unions.
I work in a hospital, admittedly a private one (I’m not a medic), and cannot believe the amount of agency staff used, it’s beyond belief the amount of money wasted, in public and private hospitals, on agency staff. Mr Reilly needs to lift the moratorium on recruitment, would save a shit load of money that could be used elsewhere. He’s an asshole, full of talk in opposition, now????? Ps people should stop knocking admin staff in hospitals, I’m one and work in a very very busy cancer unit, and feel I work just as hard as the medics on a day to day basis!
Time to give the nurses training back to the Hospitals, at least the first two years. It would help the qualified staff to do what they do best ….Patient care.
@ John Maguire, at least if they hire new people on lower wages and different type of contracts it is giving young people an opportunity to get experience, I think it would be a better option than rehiring those that have already left. As I said above I know of teachers who’re retired for years and still get called back to fill in, it’s a ridiculous situation when there are so many newly qualified teachers who would give anything for the opportunity to get experience. I think the public sector as a whole has to be totally overhauled to make it more efficient. The Croke Park agreements of this world should be no more, everybody should be answerable for the work they do.
I think the whole idea of this huge restructuring project is that when they reach their quota of staff made redundant. They will start to rehire but with lower wages. It’s not fair but I’m sure that’s the plan.
Which is cheaper, hiring agency staff ad hoc or hiring permanent staff for thirty years plus a pension thereafter? Me thinks it saves in the longer term to hire agency…..
As a matter of interest, how many staff are on paid leave ( for one suspicious reason or another) from the Health Board at the minute while we pay for agency staff?
Can anyone answer that truthfully?
Shame on PETA animal rights over human rights !!!!
Wrong thread!!!!
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