Vol. 539 No. 3
15 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of vacancies for nurses in health board hospitals; his views on the usefulness or otherwise of introducing flexitime to make such positions more attractive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19309/01]
An up to date survey on the position regarding nursing vacancies is currently being finalised by the Health Service Employers Agency, HSEA, and will be available shortly. I will arrange for a copy to be forwarded to the Deputy.
In relation to the issue of flexitime, I assume the Deputy is referring to the availability of flexible working arrangements. Nurses are generally employed to work a 39 hour week over a seven day spread, with premium payments for evenings-nights, weekends and public holidays. A variety of work patterns are operated within nursing including a pattern of early, late and night shifts, day on-day off systems, week on-week off systems, and long day patterns where the working week is based on three days and four days on alternate weeks. There are also positions, such as in out-patient departments, where a Monday to Friday pattern operates. A significant number of nurses have been facilitated in working on a job-sharing basis – the most recent figures indicated 5,000 nurses were availing of such opportunities, which involves working 19.5 hours per week on average.
Earlier this year, following agreement between the HSEA and the health service unions, new measures were introduced to enable staff in the health service to be employed on a permanent basis for any variety of contracted hours above eight hours per week, on average. Thus, staff in the health service, including nurses, may now apply to work a wide range of patterns involving a work commitment of between eight and 39 hours per week. This can also be fulfilled in an agreed number of days working per week.
The agreement on flexible working in the health service is an imaginative response aimed at meeting both the needs of employers to attract, recruit and retain staff and of individual health service employees who wish to change the balance between their working and personal life commitments. The working options previously available to nursing staff, full-time or job-sharing, were regarded by health service employers and nursing unions alike as inflexible and a significant underlying reason for nurses leaving the public health service and undertaking agency work. The introduction of the new flexible working arrangements has been warmly welcomed by the nursing unions in particular as an important measure to retain nursing staff and to attract nurses and midwives who have left the workforce back into the system.
The operation of the new arrangements will be closely monitored by the HSEA and the trade unions over the first year of operation.
