Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 21 Nov 2002

Vol. 557 No. 6

Written Answers. - Health Service Recruitment.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

76 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of vacant, unfilled or posts pending in respect of social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists or other child care workers in each of the health board areas; the degree to which delivery of service is impeded as a result of this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22928/02]

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

192 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of vacant positions in respect of various categories of health workers, with particular reference to public health nurses, social workers and child psychologists in the various health boards throughout the country; his plans to address shortages in this area at an early date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23178/02]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 192 together.

Responsibility for the recruitment of staff and for monitoring the level of vacancies in the health service lies with the employing health agency. My Department does not routinely collect data on vacancy levels in individual grades. Discussions are ongoing with the chief executive officers of the health boards in relation to the measures required to ensure the most effective and timely monitoring of employment trends. In addition, continued investment in information technology together with the development of integrated workforce planning for the health service on a national basis – a key action specified in the health strategy – is expected to make a major contribution, in the future, to the provision of quality employment related information and the development of a human resource inventory for the health service.

Intensive efforts have been undertaken to improve staffing levels where necessary, both at local and national level. As set out in the table attached, significant progress has been made in this respect over the past two years. Relevant developments include the provision of an increased number of training places, for example, in psychology, social care and the therapy pro fessions. Concerted recruitment of health care professionals from overseas is also being carried out.

In order to ensure that the quality of patient care is maintained, health service employers minimise the impact on service provision of vacancies in key health professional grades through the use of overtime, agency staff, locums, contract staff and by adjusting the skills mix as appropriate.

The implementation of the action plan for people management, action 108 of the health strategy, which was launched on 7 November 2002, has a crucial role to play in boosting the capacity of the health service to retain scarce skilled health care personnel. Additional initiat ives, with regard to the grades referred to by the Deputy, include the establishment of a national social work forum to progress a number of key concerns for social workers, including the introduction of a new grade, the upgrading of other posts and a workload management study which is intended to facilitate the most effective use of social work time.

With regard to child care workers, the Deputy will wish to note that the joint committee on child care, which was established to deal with the issues arising from the professional autonomy of the child care profession, is expected to report shortly. This is expected to assist in maximising the contribution of the profession to the delivery of services.

Grade	Numbers Employed 1999	Numbers Employed 2001	Increase in Numbers	Percentage Increase
*Child Care Grades	606	1,282	767	112%
Occupational Therapist	371	526	154	42%
Psychologist	316	441	125	40%
Public Health Nurse	1,412	1,487	75	5%
Social Worker	1,244	1,674	429	35%

*This figure accounts for child care grades employed by health boards only