HSE bill for agency staff up tenfold

SOME of the country’s largest rural and regional hospitals are set to spend up to 10 times more on agency workers to fill staff gaps this year than in 2005.

Figures obtained by the Irish Examiner show that, despite official plans to reduce spending on agency workers, costs continued to rise steadily in the first three months of 2011.

According to Freedom of Information Act documents, between January and March hospitals such as Cork University Hospital (CUH), Cavan General, Kerry General, Waterford Regional and Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda witnessed significant agency worker cost increases.

Other facilities in the HSE South, Mid West, West, North West, Dublin/ North East and Dublin/Mid Leinster regions spent €25.71 million in this period on agency workers.

This figure — which does not include psychiatric facilities, nursing homes or teaching hospitals in Dublin, such as the Mater, St James’s and St Vincent’s — is expected to exceed €100m by December.

This equates to a €285,737 daily bill for the taxpayer solely for hospitals in these areas.

Among the facilities with the highest cost increases are:

* Cork University Hospital (CUH): €803,950 (2005), €7.43m (2010), €2.82m (January to March 2011, expected full-year figure of €11.26m).

* Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda: €2.26m (2005), €11.06m (2010), €3.39m (January to March 2011, expected full- year figure of €13.48m).

* Kerry General: €33,749 (2005), €3m (2010), €1.17m (January to March 2011, expected full-year figure of €4.68m).

* Waterford General: €533,812 (2005), €3.09m (2010), €1.23m (January to March 2011, expected full- year figure of €4.92m).

* Cavan General: €1.66m (2005), €9.05m (2010), €2.56m (January to March 2011, expected full-year figure of €10.24m).

The details come after the HSE’s HR director, Seán McGrath, announced plans in February to cut agency worker costs by €33m this year by preventing former staff from taking up agency work and cutting agencies used from 30 to 12.

The HSE claims it does not know how many agency workers are in reality staff members taking up agency work while on career breaks, or how many HSE regions are breaching agency worker level guidelines.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), 2,165 nursing posts have been lost in the public health service due to the recruitment ban since March 2009.