UPDATE (3:30pm, Friday 15th August: Statement from HSE Dublin and South East).
“The availability of health workforce supply in the labour market continues to pose a significant challenge. This issue is not unique to Ireland but reflects a global shortage across the health sector. Recruitment and retention of clinical nursing staff and other key roles remain ongoing concerns, which impact the delivery of safe and effective services.”
“To address service delivery needs where direct employment is insufficient, the HSE utilises agency staff. This may be required for a range of reasons, including covering short- and long-term sick leave, maternity leave, and vacancies currently under active recruitment. There are also additional resourcing requirements with the replacement of lost hours in critical services areas following the reversal of the Haddington Road Agreement.”
“We are also experiencing higher presentations by people needing care and treatment at our hospital and increased complexity of care needs including the requirement for 1:1 specialising for many patients.”
“We are recording and tracking agency usage to improve transparency and support better workforce planning.”
Above the story input ‘Earlier Story’ €28.8 million has been spent on temperary staff at at St Luke’s General Hospital for Carlow and Kilkenny since 2023.
Over €12 million was spent on agency staff at the local facility in 2024 alone. That a 61% increase since 2021
A local TD has called the spending totally unacceptable.
Sinn Féin’s TD Natasha Newsome Drennan has called the spending on outsourced staff as totally unacceptable.
She told KCLR News that recruitment of permanent staff at the local hospital must be a priority and the HSE needs to put a proper plan in place.
“Wasteful over-reliance on agency spending has long been an area identified as an area where real savings can be made. Yet, we are still seeing year-on-year increases, despite the government’s health productivity and savings taskforce.”
“This spike comes at the same time and, in my view, is directly related to the government’s arbitrary recruitment limits under the pay and numbers strategy. These staff are needed to provide essential services, but they cannot be recruited directly, so the HSE is paying a premium price for agency workers instead.”
“The health service needs an ambitious and realistic workforce plan to directly train, recruit, and retain the workers needed to safely staff the health service, and strict targets to significantly reduce runaway agency spending.”
