Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 April 2021
856. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health if the new consultant public health medicine posts are additional posts in public health; if all existing posts will be retained and filled as consultant posts are filled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21167/21]
View answerMy Department, in conjunction with the HSE, recently reached a major agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) on a reformed public health model in Ireland. The parties to the agreement have agreed that this new Consultant led Public Health Model will be implemented by December 2023, with the establishment of 34 new consultant posts in the first year, and a total of 84 new consultant posts by end December 2023. The IMO are recommending the agreement to members who are to ballot on it.
Given the intention to move to a public health consultant led service, the parties are agreed that recruitment to the Public Health Specialist Grade will cease and the Agreement provides accordingly. The Agreement recognises that where vacancies at Specialist-level arise during the reform implementation phase, the HSE may need to recruit at Specialist grade to meet service need.
Within the model, consultants in Public Health Medicine will lead appropriately resourced multidisciplinary teams, that include surveillance scientists/epidemiologists, senior medical officers, trained contact tracers, administrative and, crucially, robust operations and management support.
The Government is committed to investment in our public health workforce. Last September, I committed to significant investment in Public Health with the announcement of plans to double the current workforce by recruiting an additional 255 permanent staff, at an annual cost of over €17m. This includes public health doctors, nurses, scientists, and support staff. This is not only a response to the current pandemic but is an investment in the future development of our Public Health function. Recruitment for these posts is ongoing and is a priority for the HSE. To date, 141 permanent positions have been recruited across all areas (medical, nursing, surveillance, and administration) and additional temporary surge capacity has been deployed across all Departments of Public Health (DPH). There are currently 418 WTEs employed across all DPHs which is an increase of 101 since September 2020.
