Mid-West wage bill up €30m since HSE took over

THE WAGE bill at the Health Services Executive (HSE) Mid-Western has risen by €30 million since the Government reorganised the health service in a bid to slash wasteful bureaucracy.

And staff numbers have also increased by more than 200, according to a Mid-West HSE spokesman.

Wages and salaries for the 8,533 HSE medical and administrative staff - full and part-time - for 2005 amounted to €346m. This is an average of just over €40,000 per employee.