Recruitment policy at HSE will impact services

by HRHQ Editorial Team

Representatives from SIPTU at a hearing of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health have said that the HSE policy on recruitment is a ‘blunt instrument’ and if implemented as it stands, will not improve public health services to the extent required.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said a cap on recruitment in the health sector will result in the “biggest own goal this country has ever scored”.

SIPTU and the INMO were appearing before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health this week discussing staffing levels.

Phil Ní Sheaghdha, the INMO chief, told the committee that “Health staff undertook industrial action in 2019 to ensure safe staffing levels, but that rug has simply been pulled out from underneath them”.

“There must now be a system whereby the decision about recruitment is taken away from the financial control of the HSE and Department of Health and based on safety for patients.”

Damian Ginley, SIPTU Sector Organiser, said: “The Union emphasised the challenges many grades are facing regarding recruitment and retention of vital staff, despite talk of record-breaking investment in the HSE workforce.”

Stephen Donnelly, Minister for Health, said that 3,300 more health staff are to be recruited next year and that funding is in place.

According to Minister Donnelly, during the lifetime of the Government, 28,000 extra staff have been employed in the health system, and that Ireland has never before had as many health staff.

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