THE DEPARTMENT of Health is seeking to generate significant savings in areas such as overtime, premium payment and spending on agency staff under the terms of the Croke Park agreement on public service pay and reform.
In the first action plan to emerge for the implementation of the Croke Park deal, the department said it is seeking to secure changes in work practices and attendance patterns as well as reforms in staffing ratios and rostering arrangements under the terms of the Croke Park agreement.
In a letter sent last Friday to the implementation body for the Croke Park deal, the secretary general of the Department of Health Michael Scanlan confirmed that the HSE was looking at voluntary redundancy scheme for clerical and administrative staff.
Among the specific reforms proposed by Mr Scanlan in the health service action for Croke Park are:
- Modernisation of laboratory services including a review of the operational hours with the emphasis on a 24-hour service where required or an extended working day;
- Automated rostering system for nurses to be piloted;
- Reconfiguration of services such as the re-location of orthopaedic services from St Mary's Hospital to the South Infirmary in Cork which involves the redeployment of 220 staff and the re-configuration plan for services in the northeast;
- The reconfiguration of ambulance services with two control centres operating in future rather than the current 10;
- Full centralisation of the service for processing medical cards to be implemented by first quarter of next year;
- Greater skill mix in community nursing units.