A Laois TD has had his say on recent HSE news including the spending on management and administration staff, both nationally and specifically in Portlaoise.
Laois Independent Republican TD Brian Stanley discussed details of the Government’s new Health Amendment Bill in the Dáil this week, insisting that investment in clinical, care and front-line staff was lagging behind that of management and administration.
Deputy Stanley said it is “very important” that the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll McNeil TD, replace the current service plan with a new Performance Delivery Plan.
“The Minister for Health is to prepare a strategic direction statement in respect of health service priorities to guide the HSE in preparation of its corporate plan. That is welcome,” the Laois TD said.
“The Minister for Health will also prepare an annual statement of the health services’ priorities. That is very important.”
Deputy Stanley highlighted figures from the most recent health sector employment report published by the HSE which shows an increase of 35% in management and administration staff from 18,851 in December 2019 to 25,477 in March of 2024.
“The numbers employed in those grades are increasing at a faster rate than the numbers of clinical, care and front-line staff, Deputy Stanley said.
Pointing to the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, which he described as “a relatively small but very busy hospital,” Deputy Stanley was critical of the €19.7 million which was spent at the facility on agency staff in 11 months of last year alone.
“That spend has never been higher,” the Laois TD said.
Deputy Stanley urged Minister McNeill to make “hard decisions” on her upcoming Performance Delivery Plan and Capital Development Plan.
“In particular, I ask the Minister about the Primary Care Centre for Portlaoise,” he said.
“It is promised and it is agreed that it will happen, and everybody is on board with it. It needs the cash – the capital allocation. Portlaoise town now has a population in the region of 30,000.
There is a huge catchment area around it. It is probably the only town of its size in the country that does not have a primary care centre.
“Some of the smaller health centres – in Mountrath, Borris-in-Ossory, Rathdowney and Graiguecullen – need some upgrading as well, and I ask that they not be forgotten about.”
Deputy Stanley called the issue of agency staff “an old chestnut,” and said it is a matter the Dáil “have to deal with,” adding that the HSE must try to “pare back” the €276 million spent in 2024 and the “over-reliance on agency staff” which he called “concerning.”
The Laois TD also raised the issue of “insourcing”, referencing a report in the Sunday Times, which suggested an internal investigation by Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), had found a consultant breached guidelines by referring public patients to his own private weekend clinics.
The report claimed the consultant was paid “thousands of euro” via the State’s National Treatment Purchase Fund, tellining Minister McNeill that “we must disentangle that from the public system, which we were supposed to be doing with Sláintecare.
“Surgeons were taking patients who came to them during the week out of the public system and doing private work through a private company they had established so they could do the work at weekends and receive a different price for it.
“That became a cash cow for those individuals and companies. The bewildering thing about it was that the hospital’s own facilities were being used. If it were a private facility, that would be fair enough.
“It was clear that what those surgeons were doing was exploiting public facilities and scarce taxpayers’ money that needs to be going to front-line services. We must move away from that.
“I welcome the fact that the Department and the Chief Executive of the HSE, Mr Bernard Gloster, has managed to get weekend work operational in hospitals. They must work seven days a week.”
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