Fórsa is among the health unions representing HSE and community and voluntary health staff across the country who’ve said the delayed publication of the HSE’s ‘pay and numbers’ strategy is actively disrupting health services as a recruitment moratorium remains in place.

The ‘pay and numbers’ strategy document sets out a full employment top line number in health services and is ultimately approved by the Minister for Health. The strategy is crucial to health workforce planning, the management of new posts, agency staff and overtime.

The ICTU group of health unions (Connect, Fórsa, INMO, IMO, MLSA, Siptu and Unite) have expressed frustration that health services continue to endure problems arising from the recruitment and retention of staff, with no sign - almost halfway through the year - that the ‘pay and numbers’ strategy is imminent.

In October last year, HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health that it was his intention to have a full pay and numbers strategy in place, ensuring “an improved control environment will allow for these targets to be met and maintained on the one hand but not exceeded on the other.”

Fórsa’s Health and Welfare national secretary Ashley Connolly commented: “Each time we’ve met with HSE management they have told us that any potential for recruitment is linked to the publication of this strategy. The delay has tied everyone’s hands, with little or no sense of urgency on the part of the Department of Health or the HSE. 

“Last year we saw the effect of HSE overspending on external consultants and agency staff. Workforce planning is a crucial component of health service delivery, and the recruitment embargo – imposed by the HSE as a cost-control device – continues to extend waiting times and place more pressure on staff, which in turn is contributing to stress, burnout and staff retention challenges,” she said. 

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