David Cullinane
Question:3. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the reason for delays in implementing agreed pay rises for healthcare workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61488/22]
View answerThursday, 8 December 2022
Questions (3)
Oral answers (6 contributions)
When I submitted this question, many health workers had not received their cost-of-living pay increase under Building Momentum. I very much hope that since submitting the question that there have been positive developments. I look forward to the Minister’s response. It is important that we value public healthcare workers. When pay increases are put in place, they should be delivered quickly. The same is true of the pandemic bonus payment. People should not be waiting. I hope that since I submitted this question that there has been progress.
I thank the Deputy for raising this. We agree. I am keen that all pay adjustments due under Building Momentum are paid to HSE and section 38 staff as soon as possible, with retrospective application to the appropriate date.
As he will be aware, all public servants, including HSE staff and section 38 staff, are entitled to pay adjustments due under Building Momentum, along with relevant claims that were resolved under the sectoral bargaining process. I can confirm that my Department has issued pay circulars and consolidated salary scales for all agreed pay adjustments due under Building Momentum in 2022. The circulars instruct the HSE, and other State bodies that fall under the aegis of this Department, to implement these adjustments.
The HSE has advised departmental officials that due to the complex nature of the adjustments being made, and added complexities with payroll systems, half the adjustments due will be made before Christmas with the rest made early in the new year. The cost-of-living increase of 3% and February adjustment of 1% will be prioritised. The HSE has issued correspondence to all staff advising on expected timelines for the payment of all pay adjustments. The HSE has advised staff that HR personnel will communicate locally, ensuring that all staff are aware of how the pay adjustments will be made between now and the end of March 2023. All adjustments due will receive retrospective application to the appropriate date.
The Minister will accept that it is unacceptable that many of those healthcare workers will have to wait until after Christmas to receive a payment that was due in October. Many workers in nursing homes and elsewhere have also not received their pandemic bonus payment, albeit they are not public sector workers.
This speaks to the issue of the need for an integrated financial management system and an integrated IT system so that we do not have these complicated systems that do not allow us to move quickly. Most workers would have had an expectation when they heard there is a new pay agreement due in October and other Departments have been able to pay this. It is once again in the health sector where staff are waiting and some will have to wait until after Christmas. It is unacceptable. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has been lobbying all of us on this because it represents its members and it wants them to get the payments due to them.
We are coming up to Christmas. That half of them have not received their payments and will have to wait until the new year, even if the payment is retrospective, is not the way to treat those who work in our healthcare system.
Yes, it is frustrating. It is frustrating for the staff, first, and for the Government and all of us as public representatives. It is not for any lack of will on the part of the HSE or the Department. As the Deputy correctly pointed out, unfortunately, we have outdated legacy systems, including for payroll. A new process is being put in place. One of the first places we are applying it is to the non-consultant hospital doctors to get rid of the situation where they were paying emergency tax every time they rotated. They will be a priority.
It is good to point out that while about half will be paid before Christmas, the other half will be paid after Christmas, into the new year. The amounts involved are significant. In my response, I asked for two worked examples, namely for a staff nurse and a clinical nurse manager, just to give a sense of the amounts due, including the arrears. I will mention those in a supplementary response.
The Minister will accept that a 3% increase is modest. It is welcome and deserved by workers but we are in the throes of a cost-of-living crisis in which inflation is running high. For many workers, any pay increases is just allowing them to stand still to meet all the rising costs and so on. A priority for all of us with an interest in healthcare, in addition to all the other things we are trying to get done, is to ensure we have proper IT systems and that, once and for all, we deal with all the legacy issues.
On children's disability network teams, we cannot get real-time data in respect of much of what is happening because of the outdated system. It is working off a database that cannot be updated because the company behind it has, I believe, gone out of business. A new one is being built. Voluntary and HSE hospitals have different systems. Even within public hospitals, there are different systems.
We had the same argument concerning the Estimates and an integrated financial management system. This will require significant public investment and take time, but we have to collectively agree we are going to do what is required and do it as quickly as we can.
It is expensive but the funding has been allocated. As we were discussing, the systems will become operational in the new year, which is important.
Let me refer to the changes. For a staff nurse on point 4, the gross salary last year, excluding the premium and overtime, was €35,130. With the cost-of-living increase and the Building Momentum increase, that is now €36,684. Regarding the cost-of-living increase, the 3% that will be paid before Christmas, the arrears due to the nurse is €966, with a further €167 to be paid in February. That will be the 1%. For a clinical nurse manager on point 6, the salary went from €56,745 to €60,968. The sectoral bargaining arrears is €1,820, paid in December. The 3% cost-of-living element is €1,611, paid in December. The Building Momentum payment in February will be a further €201.