Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 19 Nov 2003

Vol. 574 No. 5

Written Answers. - Health Service Staff.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

115 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of staff involved in the health services with a breakdown of numbers between medical, para-medical, nursing and administrative personnel; and his views on whether under any such heading that either greater or lesser numbers are appropriate to our needs. [27389/03]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The information requested by the Deputy on employment levels for particular categories of health service staff is set out in the table at the end of this reply. He may wish to note the significant increases in employment since 1997. There have been increases of 1,648, 33.1%, in the number of medical personnel, 6,409, 23.4%, in nursing staff and 6,684, 112%, in health and social care professionals including physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, social workers and psychologists. The large increases in the employment of key front line professionals in the health services have been maintained despite the changed budgetary and economic environment. They have underpinned substantial increases in the quantity and quality of health and social care provided to the public, consistent with the major investments made in the health sector since 1997.

The table indicates that 64% of health service personnel who are formally classified as management or administrative staff provide direct services to the public. It is estimated that just 6% of health service personnel are employed in a purely administrative capacity. It is important to emphasise that administrative staff work in areas that are critical to the effective running of the health service, such as payroll, accounts, finance and human resource management including training, freedom of information and general management. In this regard, the report of the Commission on Financial Management and Control Systems in the Health Service concluded that there was no evidence to support the perception that administrative staff, rather than those providing a direct patient service, have disproportionately absorbed additional resources allocated to the health service over recent years.

Staffing levels in the health service are aligned with the funded and approved level of services to be delivered within the overall financial resources allocated to the health services through the Estimates process. In managing the workforce in his or her region, each chief executive officer is responsible for determining the appropriate staffing mix and precise grades of staff to be employed in line with service plan priorities, subject to overall employment levels remaining within the approved regional employment ceiling.

Numbers Employed in the Public Health Service end-June 2003

(All figures expressed at whole-time equivalents)

Management/Administrative

Health and Social Care Professionals	Total	of which Direct Patient Services¹	of which Other²	Medical/Dental	Nursing
12,653	15,859	10,150	5,709	6,624	33,756

Source: Department of Health and Children Personnel Census (30 June 2003)

¹Management/Administrative –Direct Patient Services are staff who are of direct service to the public and include Consultants Secretaries, Out-Patient Departmental Personnel, Medical Records Personnel, Telephonists and other staff who are engaged in front line duties.

²Management/Administrative –Other are staff in the following categories Payroll, Human Resource Management (including training), Service Managers, IT Staff, General Management Support and Legislative and Information Requirements.