Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 December 2020
135. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the number of additional nurses, midwives and medical practitioners that have been employed by the HSE in 2020 through the use of recruitment agencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42444/20]
View answerThe “Be on Call for Ireland” recruitment initiative was part of an overall recruitment effort made by the HSE. Due to the strain on existing HSE resources to meet the COVID-19 challenge, the HSE is being supported by the CPL employment agency to increase the available workforce for a short-term period.
Through Be on Call, 107 nurses, one midwife, and 26 doctors are currently employed by the HSE. This is of a larger total of 296 healthcare workers that are currently employed through the Be on Call initiative, as of December 1st.
This year, the HSE has directly employed an additional 4,843 WTE across the health service. The nursing and midwifery staff category has had a net increase of 1,404 WTE, and the medical & dental category has had a net increase of 951 WTE from the beginning of the year to the end of October.
The HSE has also engaged CPL to lead on the initiative to recruit contact tracers. At the end of October, 322 contract tracers were recruited. Many of the contact tracing positions required a clinical background, and therefore these recruited staff may include some qualified nurses, midwives, and medical practitioners.
