{"id":600090,"date":"2026-08-21T10:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/600090\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T10:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:34:09","slug":"almost-6000-fewer-healthcare-staff-than-officially-permitted-hse-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/600090\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost 6,000 fewer healthcare staff than officially permitted, HSE says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are close to 6,000 fewer nurses, doctors and other staff employed in the health service than officially allowed by the Government<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under its national service plan agreed with the Minister for Health, the Health Service Executive<\/a> (HSE) can employ a maximum of 136,605 personnel to run State-funded services this year.<\/p>\n

However, in a report to the HSE board, its chief executive, Anne O\u2019Connor<\/a>, said the organisation was \u201cunder our current recruitment level by almost 6,000 at the end of May\u201d.<\/p>\n

The HSE said on Thursday this gap would close in the months ahead as trainee staff including nurses and midwives moved into regular employment after graduation.<\/p>\n

The figures in O\u2019Connor\u2019s report to the HSE board in June emerged this week as management at Cork University Hospital<\/a> as well as nurses and doctors expressed concern at delays in approving posts and restrictions on recruitment.<\/p>\n

The HSE said at the end of June its workforce stood at about 5,600 below the maximum permitted level of 136,605 whole-time equivalent personnel.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0CUH crisis shows State is at difficult crossroads on healthcare fundingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

However, it said this variance excluded certain trainee cohorts who were \u201cexpected to transition into the workforce upon graduation and, when included, materially reduce the apparent gap\u201d.<\/p>\n

The HSE said the workforce limit of 136,605 was never intended to operate as a stand-alone target. \u201cRather, it reflects the level of staffing that can be supported within the approved financial resources,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary control mechanism is the total pay budget available, thereby establishing a direct link between workforce capacity and affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HSE said workforce numbers represented only one element of overall pay expenditure with \u201cregions and services accountable for managing total pay costs across direct employment, agency staffing and overtime\u201d.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor told her board that while recruitment was about 6,000 posts below the maximum level, \u201cour workforce expenditure challenges remain in agency [staff provided through employment agencies] and overtime\u201d.<\/p>\n

Overall, the HSE recorded an overrun of about \u20ac400 million in the first five months of the year although the pace of spending is understood to have reduced since then. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor told the HSE board she had \u201ccentralised control\u201d across recruitment and non-pay expenditure until the system demonstrates it is \u201cwell advanced\u201d towards meeting national service plan budgetary targets.<\/p>\n

She said clear goals had been set, while \u201cstrengthened and more centralised\u201d pay and workforce controls have been introduced \u201cwith immediate effect\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOvertime reliance will be reduced through improved rostering, workforce planning, attendance and absence management,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor added her approval was required for all posts, while all new and replacement positions in the HSE had to be reviewed and prioritised weekly by regional executive officers.<\/p>\n

She said there was no automatic replacement of staff who left or were absent. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are close to 6,000 fewer nurses, doctors and other staff employed in the health service than officially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[27121,3414,103,397,1418,396,61,60],"class_list":["post-600090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-cork-university-hospital","tag-department-of-health","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-health-service-executive-hse","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}