Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 February 2025
264. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Health if, in light of the overwhelming votes by multiple grades of workers in the health service for industrial action over the issue of the pay and numbers strategy, it is her intention to scrap this strategy and instead base recruitment and staffing levels on ensuring patient safety and patient need; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3932/25]
View answerThis Government is committed to ensuring adequate and safe staffing across our health service, ensuring that the workforce keeps pace with population and demographic changes.
As of December 2024, there were 126,740 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staff working in Department of Health funded health services, an increase of 25% over 2020 numbers.
As the Deputy is aware, the HSE Pay and Numbers Strategy (PNS) is an annual publication derived from the HSE's Budget and National Service Plan that sets out the numbers and allocation of staff that the HSE has approval and funding for in any given year. The 2025 PNS is currently under review and will be formally approved in the coming weeks.
The 2025 PNS will raise the WTE ceiling for D/Health funded services to 133,306 which equates to a further 3,554 WTE for additional New Development initiatives in 2025.
This growth in WTE will support the HSE's commitment to attracting and retaining skilled staff which is essential to providing high-quality health and social care such as:
• The roll out of surgical hubs in Dublin, Galway, Waterford, Cork and Limerick
• The expansion of Community and Acute bed capacity with the planned addition of more than 1,300 WTE.
• Further expansion of Cancer Services with the addition of 157 WTE as part of the 2025 New Developments
• The provision of 210 WTE in 2025 New Developments for additional Mental Health services.
