ABOUT 180 beds in publicly-run nursing homes in the south of the Republic are expected to be closed this year as part of new health service cuts to be announced today.
Cuts in bed numbers and restrictions in hospital services in the region will be announced by HSE management as part of its service plan for the south.
The cuts are being put in place to deal with both reductions in the HSE’s budget from the exchequer and falling staffing levels caused by the departure of personnel in advance of pension changes to be introduced from the end of the month.
In its national service plan, published last month, the HSE announced a minimum of 555 beds in community nursing units would be closed this year.
Sources said about 180 of these bed closures would be in the south.
They also said there were unlikely to be any full-scale closures of publicly-run community nursing units, although there would be cuts in bed numbers across the system.
At briefings for trade unions and local politicians in the south today, HSE management is also expected to give some details on investment in the region from the Government’s new funding for mental health and primary care services. The Government has allocated an additional €35 million for mental health services around the country, and €20 million for primary care Statewide.
Meanwhile the HSE has said key posts in essential services such as emergency departments, maternity centres and intensive care and critical care units would be filled following the departure of thousands of staff in advance of the pension changes at the end of the month.
HSE director of integrated services Laverne McGuinness said the objective was to ensure cover in essential services.
However she acknowledged that the departure of 3,800 staff from the HSE would have an impact on some services.
She said there would have to be rationalisation in some areas, and the HSE was changing how it delivered services and associated work practices. For example, the HSE was “looking to see what elements of the public health nurse’s role could be performed by a nurse not qualified in public health nursing to free up public health nurses to provide core services”.
Ms McGuinness said some indication on the number of posts to be replaced would be available next week.
Separately, the Government has confirmed that there would be no restriction on staff who left the public service before new pension changes came into effect at the end of the month being re-employed in the future.
Minister for Health James Reilly said it had been a specific condition of the voluntary early retirement scheme in the HSE in 2010 that staff who availed of its terms would not be eligible for re-employment in the public health sector or in the wider public service or in a body wholly or mainly funded from public money.
He said a similar prohibition on re-employment, running for seven years, applied under the 2010 voluntary redundancy scheme.
He said these provisions also applied in the case of re-engagement on a contract for service which would include employment through an agency engaged in the public service.
However, in an answer to a parliamentary question, Dr Reilly said: “There is currently no voluntary redundancy or voluntary early retirement scheme available in the public health sector. Therefore, no specific re-employment restrictions apply to persons retiring before the end of the ‘grace period’ which expires on February 29th, 2012.”