Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020
1057. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the efforts made by his Department to devise and implement a comprehensive workforce plan; if there are targets for year end in each of the years 2020 to 2022; the current targeted and necessary staffing levels by profession in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18945/20]
View answerThe workforce plan for the HSE is on an annual basis and is contained in the pay and numbers strategy set out in the HSE National Service Plan 2020. This provides the details on the projected affordable staffing levels by health service for 2020 on an annual basis as funding of the HSE is on an annual basis. The detail by staff category is not included, as the model is underpinned by an affordability model, whereby there is flexibility within HSE service delivery to allocate staff based on need and affordability rather than a more rigid staff category approach. The information can be found in the HSE National Service Plan (page 118) at the following link: www.hse.ie/eng/services/publications/national-service-plan-2020.pdf. It should be noted that those projections were developed prior to COVID- 19.
The HSE is currently undertaking a strategic workforce planning exercise in the context of the ongoing response to COVID-19 to determine the required workforce to year end, to meet the service requirements of COVID-19 service delivery (i.e. COVID-19 services that are required to continue and standing back up services that were paused due to the immediate response to COVID-19). This work is complex, given that the HSE are dealing with a novel virus, and requires an integrated approach across multiple workstreams.
It remains difficult to quantify what the public health sectors workforce requirements will be going forward, as we are still in the process of managing the crisis. The service requirements and available resources will determine the extent to which recruitment will take place going forward.
Over the coming months, the health service will face normal staff attrition and staff redeployed will return to their previous positions to support the recommencement of non-COVID services. However, it has become clear that the workforce must be enhanced to meet current and future demands with sufficient contingency and flexibility to respond to unexpected public health threats and demand surges. A new strategic workforce plan is being developed to take account of such matters. This work is being progressed as a matter of priority by the Department of Health and HSE.
