Extra healthcare hours used to raise productivity rather than save cash

Parts of the health service have been using extra working hours provided under the Haddington Road agreement to generate productivity in frontline services rather than to realise cash savings, according to a new report given to the Government.

Senior Ministers yesterday considered an implementation plan for the Haddington Road agreement drawn up by health service management which maintains that €212 million is likely to be generated in savings under it this year.

The HSE’s budget for the year was based on total savings of €398 million. This comprised €290 million in savings under Haddington Road and €108 million in unspecified pay savings. None of the anticipated €108 million in unspecified savings are expected to be realised.

The health service implementation plan says that “significant challenges in releasing the full €290 million cash value from the Haddington Road agreement have been identified”.

The deal provided measures aimed at enabling managers to generate savings on pay. These included staff working additional hours for no extra pay, redeployment, work practice changes and the recruitment of new nursing/midwifery graduates on lower salaries.

The report says: “It is acknowledged that the main focus of implementing the Haddington Road agreement measures is to reduce the public pay bill. However, it is important to note that not all of the 5 million gross additional hours (including annual leave, sick leave, etc) estimated under the agreement are capable of being converted into cash. In this regard an assessment report identified 2.9 million additional hours that are being used across the system to deliver increased productivity.”