Clerical staff are staging a series of lunchtime protests today and tomorrow over a HSE moratorium on recruitment.
They’re taking action at various sites across the country, demanding bosses ‘#EndTheFreeze’.
Some members will be out at St Luke’s General Hospital for Carlow and Kilkenny
The action from about 12:30pm is not expected to impact services but is more to make a statement.
In response, the Ireland East Hospital Group has issued the following:
“The HSE regrets that Fórsa have taken industrial action, which has been ongoing for a number or weeks. Throughout the Forsa strike action we will continue to conduct risk assessments to monitor any likely impacts to services. Derogations will be sought through our dialogue with Forsa, to ensure the protection of services, and to ensure that there is no risk to patients or emergencies throughout this dispute.
Regarding staffing pause: Our staff are undeniably our greatest asset, with their dedication, expertise, and passion delivering exceptional service for our patients and service users.
It must be noted, the Government funded the HSE to recruit to over 6,000 new posts in 2023 to support the development of services. We reached that target before the end of the year, hence the temporary pause. During 2023 we also filled 13,000 replacement posts.
This recruitment of staff to these new and existing posts has allowed us to serve our patients, service users and their families better. The HSE workforce is at its highest since 2006, which is good news for the public and staff throughout the country and reflects an expanding health service.
The Government has made it clear that we must not recruit beyond our agreed target. Conscious of this and of the pace of recruitment this year, in recent months we put in place controls in relation to the recruitment of management and administration staff. We then implemented a recruitment pause for management and administration (including clerical and administrative staff in hospitals and community services) early in October. This was extended further across the HSE to other staff categories on 10th November. We are obliged to put in place responsible controls and measures.”
