Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 December 2009
175 Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the fact that elderly patients are being turned away from St. Joseph’s Hospital, County Longford despite beds being empty; her views on the impact that the moratorium on staff recruitment in the Health Service Executive is having on this situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46759/09]
View answerThe Health Service Executive has operational responsibility for the delivery of health and social services, including those at facilities such as St. Joseph's Hospital Longford. I understand that the HSE is currently restricting new admissions to the long stay unit, however the Unit is still providing respite admissions. The Employment Control Framework, which was agreed in March of this year sets out the overall policy for staffing levels in the health sector for 2009. The Framework incorporates the general moratorium on recruitment in the public sector. However, the moratorium has been modulated to minimise the impact on front line services and, in particular, on areas such as disability, services for older people, and child care.
One of the key features of the Employment Control Framework for 2009 is that the approved employment ceiling for the health sector for 2009 is 111,800 WTEs. In addition, within this employment ceiling there will be a 3% payroll reduction for management and administrative grades in 2009 leading to a reduction of at least 500 in the numbers employed in these grades. The employment control framework specifically exempts staff in the following front line grades in the health sector from the moratorium: Medical Consultants, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Clinical Psychologists, Behaviour Therapists, Counsellors, Social Workers, and Emergency Medical Technicians.
The framework actually allows for a growth in the number of those posts within the overall approved employment ceiling (111,800 wtes) for the health sector. The framework also includes provision for the creation of 225 new development posts this year for cancer, mental health, and disability services. Following a submission from the Health Service Executive earlier this year, it was agreed that special provisions would also apply in relation to Clinical Engineering Technicians, Dosimetrists, Physicists, and Radiation Therapists, which are specialist grades under the National Cancer Control Programme). The framework also provides that a proposal for the filling of a post on exceptional grounds will only be considered through the redeployment of a member of staff of the same or equivalent grade from another post or, the suppression of another or a number of other posts of an equivalent salary value to the post being proposed for filling.
Furthermore, staff will be redeployed within and across pillars and from one institution to another to support the development of integrated care delivery. Health employment levels are monitored by the Joint Employment Control Monitoring Committee, which comprises officials from my Department, the Department of Finance and the HSE. This committee also reviews the implementation of the moratorium and any issues arising.
