Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 February 2022
411. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the funding provided to recruit staff into the HSE in 2020; the target number of additional staff to be recruited in 2020; the actual number of staff recruited in that year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10731/22]
View answerDuring the planning process for 2020, affordable limits for staffing were used to ensure workforce growth in the HSE remained within the allocated budgets and in line with Government policy on public service numbers and costs. In the National Service Plan 2020, the affordable limit for December 2020 was identified as 121,311 WTE, excluding centrally held and development funding, and 123,701 WTE including centrally held and development funding. This equates to an increase of 1,494 WTE or 3,884 WTE over end 2019 levels. These were initial estimates of affordability limits which were to be further developed and finalised alongside the Department of Health in the finalisation of the Pay and Numbers Strategy 2020.
Due to the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, there was an immediate need to increase the health sector workforce on a temporary, emergency basis. Putting a limit on recruitment was no longer appropriate, and many recruitment avenues were utilised to ensure the health service was adequately staffed. The priority for the remainder of 2020 was therefore the need to expand the workforce to meet the demands of the health service.
2020 saw an increase of an additional 6,357 WTE, which is the largest annual increase in staffing since the foundation of the HSE.
