HSE pays out €1.1bn in staff overtime

THE HSE has spent more than €1 billion on hospital overtime payments since it was established, the majority of which has been used to plug serious staff gaps linked to its “cost-saving” recruitment embargo.

Details obtained by the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act show nurses, junior doctors and administrative staff are being asked to work long hours, resulting in the major taxpayer bill.

According to the figures, since January 2005 the HSE has spent in excess of €1.1bn on overtime payments at 49 hospitals across the country — the equivalent of just under €500,000 every day on average.