This article is from page 21 of the 2013-06-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
THE amount of money the HSE West is paying out for agency staff increased by almost one million euro during the first three months of this year.
The 21 per cent increase in agency staff had been attributed to a staff monitorium introduced by the Government and the inability of the hospital sector to attract specialist medical personnel on a full time basis.
While the cost of agency staff has increased, the overtime bill has decreased by 11 per cent.
Fianna Fáil county councillor Brian Meaney said staff are genuinely frustrated by these financial cuts.
“What they are saving on one side they are losing on the other,” he said.
He added that the CEO of the Mid Western Regional Hospital Group also informed him that the increase in the cost of agency staff in the midwest region was higher than the rest of the HSE Area West.
“The only people winning here are the agencies,” he said, as it emerged agency nurses cost the hospitals € 28 per hour, compared to a staff nurse at € 17 per hour.
“We should go with long term temporary contracts. They would give stability and improve morale,” he suggested.
The figures outlining the costs show a comparison between the amount paid out for overtime and agency staff during the first quarter of this year, and the sum paid from January to March in 2012.
During the first three months of last year € 4.354 million was paid to agencies supplying staff to hospitals in the HSE West area, including Ennis General Hospital.
During the same period this year that figure had risen by € 921,000 to € 5.275 million, leaving Cllr Meaney to question if the HSE was getting value for money and patients consistency of care.
While the cost of agency staff had increased significantly the cost of overtime at the area’s hospitals had dropped significantly.
During the first three months of 2012, overtime came to € 11.698 million. This dropped by 11 per cent to € 10.377 in 2013, saving the HSE € 1.321 million.
Francis Rogers, Assistant National Director of Human Resources HSE West, said this issue continues to be a “major challenge” for the HSE West, but there has been “a significant drop in expenditure”.
He added that while the cost of agency staff had “bottomed out slightly” last year, “it crept up on us during the first quarter of 2013”.
“These costs are a key element of 2013 Cost Containment Plans and reductions in expenditure levels will be critical in delivering the pay reductions necessary in 2013,” he said.
He attributed the need for agency staff to the moratorium.
The HSE’s assistant national director for finance, Liam Minihan, said that a large number of nurses had also left the HSE West under the early retirement scheme last year, and there were not enough nurses left to cross cover – hence the need for agency nurses.