Healthcare shortages pushing up salaries by €4,000 average

In the pharmacy sector, where there is a huge shortage of qualified staff, some of the more senior positions rose by €7,000 or more, survey finds

The HSE is now offering up to €4,000 in relocation costs in a bid to attract health staff to work in Ireland.

Staff levels in healthcare are at an all-time low — but this could be only the ‘tip of the iceberg’ with many workers in the sector emigrating or changing careers.

Figures from the Excel Recruitment Annual Salary Guide 2023, show that this staff crisis has forced many healthcare and pharmacy employers to increase pay rates in a bid to attract and retain staff — with some average salaries jumping by €4,000. In the pharmacy sector, where there is a huge shortage of qualified staff, some of the more senior positions have seen salary increases in the range of €7,000 or more.

These are the findings of the Excel Recruitment Employee Feedback Survey, released in tandem with the Excel Recruitment Annual Salary Guide 2023.

However, the leading recruiters report that despite healthcare salaries typically increasing by between 3% and 8% over the last year, there has been a mass exodus of staff from this sector — which has led to significant problems in the delivery of healthcare services across the country and some hospitals struggling to keep wards open.

Shane McLave, managing director at Excel Recruitment, said: “During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw a rise in the number of staff returning to work in healthcare — as well as staff being recruited across the healthcare service.

“As things have started to settle, the demand for healthcare workers is still just as high — with many workers emigrating or changing careers altogether.”  

“The Government needs to put its money where its mouth is if it wants to halt the exodus of staff from healthcare,” says Shane McLave, managing director at Excel Recruitment.

Staffing levels across healthcare have hit record lows with an additional 15,000 healthcare workers needed by 2035, according to projections from the ESRI.

“We feel the Government’s track record around the €1,000 tax-free bonus for frontline public sector healthcare workers leaves much to be desired and, has helped contribute to the staff crisis. After all the sacrifices that so many healthcare workers made during the pandemic, there were huge delays in the payment of this bonus to many staff. Indeed, recent figures show that 66,000 healthcare workers are still waiting on the bonus.” 

The exclusion of private hospital staff from this payment has also insulted many of those working in private healthcare — as has the delay in the payment of the bonus to those working in private and voluntary nursing homes.

“Against a backdrop like this, it is not surprising so many healthcare workers have left the country or changed their jobs. The Government needs to step up to the plate and put its money where its mouth is if it wants to halt the exodus of staff from this sector.”

 The Excel research found that private nursing homes often struggle to compete with the Health Services Executive (HSE) when attracting staff.

“The HSE is now offering up to €4,000 in relocation costs in a bid to attract health staff to work in Ireland,” said Mr McLave. “Private nursing homes struggle to compete with benefits such as this. It’s not feasible for some private nursing homes to match the HSE’s pay scale or pension contribution.

“There is a feeling within the private nursing home sector that they are providing a training platform for the HSE. In many cases, staff do not necessarily want to leave their own nursing home and have no option but to go for the higher salary which private homes cannot compete with.” 

The high demand for — and huge shortage of — healthcare workers has pushed up salaries and hourly pay rates for many positions, according to the Excel Recruitment Annual Salary Guide 2023.

“The average salary of a director of nursing in private residential care is now €86,000 — up from €82,000 last year, while the average salary for an assistant director of nursing is now €64,000 – up from €60,000 last year,” said Mr McLave.

“However, not all salaries have gone up — there are many nurses and other healthcare professionals who will be on the same hourly rate today as they were on last year. While this can be incredibly frustrating for the workers involved, many healthcare employers simply can’t afford to pay more.” 

Excel Recruitment’s research has found that some positions in the pharmacy sector are commanding much higher salaries today than they did last year.

A store manager in a large pharmacy can expect a salary of between €55,000 and €70,000 today — compared to between €38,000 and €43,000 last year.

An assistant manager in a large pharmacy can expect a salary of between €40,000 and €45,000 today — up from between €34,000 and €36,000 last year.

“The pharmacy industry is thriving but staffing this sector has become extremely challenging over the last number of years,” Mr McLave added. “Ireland has just over 6,700 registered pharmacists but it only trains around 2.4% of that number each year which leads to major staffing shortages.”