Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2020
1476. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Health his response to an organisation (details supplied) with regard to its call for a six-month pause on recruiting vital nursing home staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33946/20]
View answerThe HSE is cognisant of the staffing difficulties faced by the nursing home sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and has provided emergency nursing staff to support nursing homes, having regard to the HSE capacity to do so.
The HSE is not targeting, nor does intend to target the staff of nursing homes in any of its recruitment campaigns. However, the HSE is required to undertake the recruitment of staff through open, competitive, and transparent recruitment campaigns. Recruitment to the HSE is subject to the provisions of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act, 2004 and is regulated by the Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA). This regulatory framework provides that recruitment to the HSE must observe the following five recruitment principles:
- Probity
- Merit
- Best Practice
- Fairness
- Transparency
The HSE is not able to exclude nursing home staff from applying for positions or prevent them from taking up offers of employment within the HSE for prolonged periods of time; it would be a breach of its Recruitment Licence to do so. It is, however, ultimately a personal choice of any individual to determine whether s/he wishes to apply for employment within the HSE. Many factors will influence such a decision and those who are successful in recruitment competitions are entitled to take up those roles when offered positions.
It is notable, however, that the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel, in its report, stated that “the pay rates and overall working conditions of, at least, some staff in the private sector was raised as a concern by several contributors. Some of these lowly paid workers seek employment in more than one nursing home to augment their income, a circumstance that, can potentially pose a serious risk in terms of COVID-19 transmission from one facility to another. ” The Panel went on to recommend that staff employed by a nursing home should be precluded from working across multiple sites and adequate single-site employment contracts should be put in place to support this.
The Department has recently written to the sector representative body requesting information on the number and percentage of nursing homes that have put arrangements in place regarding contracts for staff in line with the Panel’s recommendations.
Earlier this year a Temporary Assistance Payment Scheme was established to provide financial support to private and voluntary nursing homes to contribute towards COVID-19 related costs. Some €92m has been made available this year, and following Budget 2021, an additional €42m has been secured for the Scheme, which has now been extended to the end of June 2021.
