Department of Health warns recruitment problems present “strategic risk”

Difficulties in attracting and keeping skilled healthcare professionals present a "significant strategic risk" to the effective running of the Irish health system in the years ahead, the Department of Health said.

It also signalled it wants to see greater reforms to existing staff working arrangements, with more traditional tasks being transferred between different groups, for example from doctors to nurses and from nurses and midwives to new assistant grades.

In a letter to the HSE setting out its budget for next year, the department said global and regional health workforce demands were expected to increase in the decades ahead as a result of population and economic growth combined with demographic, epidemiological and other factors.

“The potential impact of emerging and accelerating global and regional health workforce shortages on health professional recruitment and retention presents a significant strategic risk to the effective functioning of the Irish health system in the coming years.”

The department said it was committed to developing a national integrated strategic framework for health workforce planning.

It outlined a number of recommendations for the HSE’s forthcoming service plan for 2016 – its legal agreement on how it should spend its €13 billion budget for the year. It said the HSE should:

Commit to putting in place any outstanding recommendations from the recent expert group report on senior medical career and workforce planning, “in particular the implementation of family-friendly, flexible working”.

Seek the successful conclusion of negotiations with trade unions and representative bodies on transferring tasks between different groups and on consequent revision of work practices.

Commit to undertake a “comprehensive review of the potential use of maternity care assistants in Ireland”, including training requirements “to identify the roles and responsibilities that could reasonably be delegated by a midwife”.

Commit to targeting “an increase in the number of nurses and midwives registered to prescribe both medicinal products and ionising radiation for the period 2016 in response to service need”.