Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 October 2017
365. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin asked the Minister for Health the vacancy rates for consultants, doctors, nurses and midwives in the HSE; and his plans to fill those vacancies while also retaining existing staff in the HSE. [42827/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly concerning the vacancy rates requested. However, it should be noted that typically the HSE does not operate a "vacancy rate", but rather records a staff turnover rate. The HSE estimates that for 2016, the adjusted turnover rate was 5.7%. This means that, each year at any one time, people will be moving in and out of about one in 20 posts across the HSE. This can be for a range of reasons such as simply moving to a new location but still within the HSE, retirements, resignations or other types of leave such as maternity leave. When a position is vacated, work may be covered through a variety of measures such as redeployment, restructuring or reallocation of the work. Also, it may be necessary for the duties to be covered by agency or overtime.
The need to increase the numbers of consultants, doctors, nurses and midwives in the public health service is a priority for me, my Department and the HSE against a backdrop of global shortages.
At the end of August 2017, there were 2,913 whole-time equivalent consultants in the public health services. This is 103 more than the end of August 2016 figure and an increase of over 700 in the past decade. At the end of August, there were 6,209 whole-time equivalent NCHDs, an increase of 278 on the August 2016 figure and an increase of over 1,300 in the past decade. The HSE has been focused on addressing issues associated with the creation and approval of consultant posts and successful recruitment. It is now giving effect to the report, "Towards Successful Consultant Recruitment, Appointment and Retention", completed in December 2016. It is also focused on implementing the recommendations of the, "MacCraith Group", to support the recruitment and retention of NCHDs.
The Nursing Recruitment and Retention Agreement concluded with the INMO and SIPTU Nursing earlier this year committed to increasing the number of nurses and midwives by 1,224 additional permanent posts in 2017. The recent quarterly progress report (30 Sept 2017) from the HSE states that the HSE has filled 20% of the target posts. However, the report shows that there is an increase of 739 whole-time equivalents between August 2016 and August 2017. In addition, the HSE is currently concluding the process of offering all graduating nurses and midwives permanent contracts and is focused on the conversion of agency employees into HSE direct employees. This is expected to deliver a significant increase in staff nurse numbers between now and year end.
The Public Service Pay Commission will also be examining the reasons behind the recruitment and retention issues faced by some public service grades in the next phase of its work. This will include certain health sector grades, including doctors, nurses and radiographers. I look forward to reading their findings in 2018.
