TRADE UNIONS have said that more than 1,000 front-line posts will be affected by the pause in recruitment which has been introduced by the Health Service Executive in a bid to deal with a growing financial deficit.
Unions said they were told by senior HSE management yesterday that the health service was facing a potential overrun of €400 million by the end of the year if remedial action is not taken. In the first six months of the year the HSE recorded a deficit of just over €200 million, according to official figures released on Thursday.
At a meeting with unions yesterday the HSE confirmed it had suspended virtually all recruitment as part of a move to save money.
In addition, regional HSE management will put in place cost- savings plans for their areas. Unions are expected to be informed of the details of these in the coming weeks. However, it is expected they will involve further bed closures, restrictions on operations and new cuts in community services such as home help.
Jobs affected by the curtailment of recruitment will include positions which until now have been exempt from the Government’s moratorium on hiring staff in the public service. These include social workers, therapists and senior doctors.
Unions were told that only people in the process of being recruited who had had contracts offered to them would be taken on at this stage. Those with letters of appointment will have to wait until the position is reviewed in September.
In a brief statement last night the HSE said it had “continued with its recruitment pause in August based upon the June expenditure data, which is showing a deficit [in the] year to date of €179 million”.
“This decision will be reviewed further in September when the July data is available. HSE will continue to process, screen and panel applications for the posts as set out in our service plan. During this time arrangements are in place for exceptions to address critical service risk,” it added.
The trade union Siptu said management had confirmed that more than 1,000 front-line positions would not be filled at the moment as part of the HSE’s initiative.
The union’s acting health division organiser Paul Bell said the HSE was, as expected, giving priority to balancing its books, even if this resulted in elective procedures being postponed and the treatment of patients delayed.
“Management has accused our members of causing the problem by treating too many patients already this year and exceeding budgets,” he said.
“The meeting provided very little firm information on the practical consequences of the moratorium on front-line services. Management were extremely vague about future plans. In fact, it was the best exercise in fog- knitting I’ve ever seen.”
Speaking before the meeting, Mr Bell had said the health services would “enter meltdown” if the cutbacks to recruitment of front-line personnel were implemented.
Despite the comment in its statement that it was continuing with the pause in its recruitment, the HSE had never previously said publicly that any such a policy was in place.
The Irish Timesreported yesterday that a directive to regional directors issued by senior HSE management in Dublin on July 8th stated that it had been decided at national level to "stall" virtually all recruitment, including positions previously exempt from the Government's moratorium.
It said that outside of the HSE’s national service plan commitments (for the establishment of 400 new posts) more than 1,000 posts were in various stages of recruitment.
Many of these are non-exempt nursing posts, while others are of a higher cost than those who left the HSE under recent exit schemes.