Health Service Staff

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2010

Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Ceisteanna (414, 415)

Olwyn Enright

Ceist:

503 Deputy Olwyn Enright asked the Minister for Finance the criteria applied by his Department in considering the grant or refusal of an exemption by the Health Service Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33521/10]

Olwyn Enright

Ceist:

505 Deputy Olwyn Enright asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of the exemptions sought by the Health Service Executive, including job and grade, to the recruitment embargo outlining which exemptions were granted and which exemptions were refused in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33520/10]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Finance (Deputy Brian Lenihan)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 503 and 505 together.

The Employment Control Framework 2010-2012 for the Health Sector (Department of Health & Children, HSE and Voluntary Bodies) provides for an annual reduction of 1,520 whole time equivalents in the numbers employed. It allows the HSE to fill vacancies in specific exempted grades in key front line services and to create a limited number of new posts in those exempted grades. The exempted grades are:

Medical consultants;

Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Physiotherapist;

Clinical Psychologist and Counsellor;

Social Worker;

Emergency Medical Technician;

Psychiatric Nurses;

Public Health Nurse and Nurse Sponsorship Scheme;

National Cancer Control Programme specialist grades.

Provided that it is making satisfactory progress with its employment control framework targets, the HSE also has discretion to fill a limited number of posts on exceptional grounds to support the development of integrated health care and its transformation programme. There must be suppression of posts of equivalent value in non-frontline areas for each new exempted posts or each exception made.

Prior to the Employment Control Framework 2010-2012, the HSE required the specific approval of the Department of Health & Children in the first instance and then my Department to any exceptions. Details of exceptions requested and granted by my Department prior to the 2010-2012 framework were included in my response to PQ ref no: 21792/10 on Tuesday 25th May last and for your convenience are set out in the following table.

No.	Requesting Body	Purpose of Sanction	Grade	No. of posts	Decision	No. of posts granted	Date Sanctioned	Comment
1	HSE	Front line post	Senior Locum	0.6	3. No decision to date	0		Further info awaited
2	Galway University Hospital	Critical management post	General Manager	1	1. Yes, application was approved	1	17/06/2009
3	HIQA	Level of expenditure on external advice	Legal Advisor (AP1)	1	1. Yes, application was approved	1	31/07/2009
4	HIQA	Operational reasons	Regional Operations Manager (PO)	1	1. Yes, application was approved	1	31/07/2009
5	HIQA	Value for money	Health Technology Assessment — AP1	2	1. Yes, application was approved	2	31/07/2009
6	HIQA	Value for Money	HTA — Engineer Grade I	2	1. Yes, application was approved	2	31/07/2009
7	HIQA	Value for Money	HTA — Engineer Grade III	2	1. Yes, application was approved	2	31/07/2009
8	HSE	New HSE structure	Regional Operation Director (Assist Nat,. Dir)	4	1. Yes, application was approved	4	07/07/2009
9	HSE	New HSE structure	Care Group (Assistant National Director)	4	1. Yes, application was approved	4	07/07/2009
10	Mental Health Commission	Front line post	Consultant Psychiatrist	5	1. Yes, application was approved	5	31/07/2009
11	Mental Health Commission	Front line post	Assistant Inspector (Occupational Therapist)	1	1. Yes, application was approved	1	31/07/2009
12	Mental Health Commission	Service reasons	Staff Officer (Temp Contract Renewal)	1	1. Yes, application was approved	1	31/07/2009
13	National Treatment Purchase Fund	Fair Deal requirements	EO / HEO	6	1. Yes, application was approved	6	31/07/2009
14	Central Mental Hospital	Front line post	Mental Health Nurses	23	1. Yes, application was approved	23	31/08/2009
15	St Loman’s Hospital	Front line post	Mental Health Nurses	36	1. Yes, application was approved	36	31/08/2009
16	Temple Street Hospital	Critical nursing management post	Director of Nursing	1	1. Yes, application was approved	1	20/10/2009
17	Galway University Hospital	Key post for flu pandemic	Chief Medical Scientist	1	3. No decision to date	0		Further info awaited
18	HSE	Front line post	General Dental Surgeon	3	1. Yes, application was approved	2	25/11/2009	Sanction was only given for two of the three posts

No.	Requesting Body	Purpose of Sanction	Grade	No. of posts	Decision	No. of posts granted	Date Sanctioned	Comment
19	HSE	Front line post	Principal Environmental Health Officers	2	3. No decision to date	0		Further info awaited
20	HSE	Front line post	Fire Prevention Officer	1	3. No decision to date	0		Further info awaited
21	HSE	Front line post	Clinical Perfusionist Post	1	3. No decision to date	0		Further info awaited
22	Children’s Hospital, Crumlin	Front line post	Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Nurses	5	1. Yes, application was approved	5	8/12/1009	The filling of these posts was to be met through redeployment first, and where this was not possible, suppression
23	Temple Street Hospital	Front line post	Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Nurses	2	1. Yes, application was approved	2	8/12/1009	The filling of these posts was to be met through redeployment first, and where this was not possible, suppression
24	HSE	Development post for Primary Care Teams	Senior Dietician (Sligo/Leitrim/Cavan)	1	1. Yes, application was approved	1	18/01/2010
25	HSE — St. James, Dublin	Critical maintenance post	Maintenance Manager	1	1. Yes, application was approved	1	18/01/2010
26	HSE — St. Lukes Kilkenny	Front line post	Clinical Nurse Manager II	2	1. Yes, application was approved	2	18/01/2010
27	An Bord Altranais	Front line post	Director of Operations	1	3. No decision to date	0
28	Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland	Front line post	Pharmacist Chief II	1	3. No decision to date	0
29	Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland	Front line post	Senior Pharmacist	3	3. No decision to date	0
30	Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland	Front line post	Grade IV (Inspection & Enforcement Unit)	1	3. No decision to date	0
31	Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland	Front line post	Solicitor — Grade VIII	1	3. No decision to date	0
32	Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland	Front line post	Head of Registration — Grade VII	1	3. No decision to date	0

Note: Includes HSE exemptions sought between May 2009 and January 2010. Under the Employment Control Framework 2010-2012, HSE exceptions under the moratorium are at the discretion of the HSE HR National Director.