In a recent column in the Irish Independent, chair of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) John McGuinness TD, claimed that there are 3,000 middle managers ‘surplus to requirements’ in the HSE, and identified the surplus as the root cause of all the problems in the Irish health service.
IMPACT national secretary Louise O’Donnell responded in a letter to Mr McGuinness. Louise wrote, “It remains the most enduring myth of our health services that it is overburdened with clerical, administrative and management staff. Between 2009 and 2013, numbers of staff employed in these categories fell by more than any other, with the exception of general support staff.
“The most recent figures available show that there are almost 100,000 staff employed in the health sector. Of these, only 15% are in administrative or managerial roles such as medical secretaries, medical records, finance, information technology, human resources and similar.
“Of the administrative staff complement almost 11,000 are clerical and related, 3,700 are line managers/supervisors and specialists and only 890 are in management grades (less than 1% of the total workforce)” she said.
Louise said that the figures revealed that there could not be 3,000 surplus managers as claimed by McGuinness. “In any event, the Haddington Road Agreement provides for redeployment throughout the wider public service if any public service employer was to conclude that it has ‘surplus’ staff. This has not been the experience within our health services, where chronic staff shortages are placing extra pressure on service delivery” she said.
McGuinness’s column was a response to the launch of the ‘Reboot Ireland’ campaign, which has already identified its goal of freezing public sector pay.
Louise added “The ‘Reboot Ireland’ campaign appears ready to indulge in broad attacks on health service workers, and others in the public sector, for political advantage. It is disappointing, to say the least, to see you once again take aim at these workers in order to score points against an emerging potential opponent .”
Louise told Mr McGuinness she would welcome an opportunity to meet him to discuss the issues in relation to the staffing of health services.
Louise also sent a letter of response for publication to the Irish Independent. The paper has so far declined to publish the letter.
