HSE recruitment process concerns

THE state’s public spending watchdog has asked the HSE for information on its recruitment process after claims that senior managers in the health service, who were unable to avail of early retirement because of Government restrictions, took up positions at a lower grade without any reduction in salary.

The Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been informed that other staff are being promoted to fill these posts with implications for the overall wage bill in the HSE. The allegations emerged as a result of a complaint by a social worker over the HSE’s decision in 2006 to cancel an open recruitment competition to fill a vacancy as dedicated officer for elder abuse in the HSE South region. The post was filled in 2008 by a manager who had previously worked in a more senior role.

The Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA), criticised the HSE for advertising a position that it filled through an internal transfer.