Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 February 2012
626 Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Health if the Health Service Executive plans to issue an embargo on community hospitals regarding the recruitment of agency nurses, following the retirement of staff this month; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9388/12]
View answerThe HSE's National Service Plan 2012 commits to significantly reducing the volume of agency staff usage, with a target reduction of up to 50%. The Plan contains a commitment that overtime and agency staffing are not to be used to support service levels beyond those agreed in the Plan or to substitute for staff losses.
The Service Plan also sets out the actions to be taken to address the impact of staff reductions (particularly those occurring before the end of February) and reduced financial resources. Contingency plans are currently being drawn up for all services in the HSE. The Executive is seeking to mitigate the impact of the retirements on front-line services through a range of measures, including:
using the provisions of the Public Service Agreement to bring about greater flexibilities in work practices and rosters, redeployment and other changes to achieve more efficient delivery of services; and
providing for some limited and targeted recruitment in priority areas to help limit the impact of retirements on front-line services.
