*Cllr Ann Norton. Photograph: John O’Neill
A RECRUITMENT freeze in the HSE has been questioned by elected representatives in the county.
Last month, HSE CEO Bernard Gloster announced that the recruitment freeze was to be extended to more staff as part of efforts to tighten spending further. This was described by nurses as “a kick in the teeth”.
All categories of staff with the exception of consultants, doctors in training and 2023 graduate nurses and midwives are now impacted by the recruitment freeze. It comes as the HSE is facing a €1.4bn deficit this year and follows criticism by Mr Gloster that its budget for 2024 is inadequate.
Most recent figures indicated that the HSE has exceeded its target of 6,100 funded net increase whole-time jobs for this year. “You will know that the level of recruitment to the HSE in 2023 has been a cause of particular focus in recent times, both internally and externally. It is important to emphasise that the recruitment of staff has allowed us to serve our patients, service users and their families better,” Gloster outlined in a memo to staff.
First introduced in June, the staffing embargo was initially for administrative and clerical staff but has since expanded.
Staff at Ennis Hospital took to the picket line last week to protest over the recruitment freeze. They warned that the health service is at risk of collapse this winter.
At a briefing between county councillors and health officials, Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) flagged, “the staffing embargo is a concern”. He said he was regularly in contact with staff from University Hospital Limerick.
“Lack of professional staff has been an issue over the years, when you hear embargo on staff you have to take a second breath because the last thing we need in the HSE is an embargo on staff when there’s so many positions to be filled,” commented Cllr Ann Norton (IND).
Chief Operating Officer of UL Hospitals Group, Noreen Spillane explained, “it’s a pause at the moment, the CEO would say there isn’t just enough funding in the budget to fund all the staff in place, a lot of additional staff came on board during COVID, at the moment it is not having a major impact on all areas”.
