HSE hired five times more senior managers than doctors, report shows

The Health Service Executive (HSE) took on five times as many senior managers as doctors or dentists in the second quarter of last year, according to figures presented to its board.

An additional 25 whole-time equivalents (WTEs) were added at the grade VIII and above levels of management, the most senior grade in the organisation, between April and June. This compared with just five additional WTEs in the medical and dental area, the lowest growth in any staff category.

By the end of June, there were 148,901 people working in health and social care for the HSE or the various voluntary agencies it funds – equivalent to 130,164 WTEs.

This was 3,990 WTEs more than at the start of the year, and an extra 1,165 since the end of April, chief executive Paul Reid told the HSE board in a report last July. He said this was the second-biggest increase in staff in the organisation's history, after 2020.

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Employment in all staff categories grew between April and June, but the biggest increase was in the management/administrative area, with an extra 381 WTEs; 228 of these were clerical grades, 129 were grades V to VII and 25 were grade VIII and above.

Health and social care professionals, including vaccinators, accounted for an additional 258 WTEs, and patients and client care, which includes home helps and healthcare assistants, for another 235.

Nursing and midwifery numbers increased by 206 WTEs, general support by 80 and medical and dental by five.

Cyberattack

Mr Reid said his workforce report offers a combined view of May and June employment levels in order to assess the two-month effect on reporting of the cyberattack on the HSE’s computer systems last May. The cyberattack severely impacted internal recruitment channels for a time, he said, but external and international recruitment were largely unaffected.

By the end of April, the HSE had a deficit of €154.8 million, largely due to Covid-19-related costs. The pandemic had forced spending €233.7 million into the red but but once-off savings helped reduce the overall deficit.

Capital spending on the new National Children’s Hospital for last year was likely to be more than €300 million, against an allocation of €198 million, Mr Reid told the board. This figure excludes any further claims made by the contractor on the project.

The hospital is due to be substantially complete in August but the contractor’s programme remains in delay, according to Mr Reid. Another six to nine months would be needed to commission the hospital and bring it into use once building work is completed.

Barely a third of ambulances managed to achieve the target turnaround time of 30 minutes or under between calls, according to the data provided by Mr Reid to the board.

The proportion of ambulances hitting the target during the pandemic up to last April was 36.3 per cent. Board members were told in July that average national performance was worse than the target with signals of further decline over the past five months.