HSE to ban agency junior doctors

HOSPITALS will be barred from appointing any junior doctor agency workers from nextMonday, after senior HSE officials privately conceded plans to cut the short-term staff cost are failing.

Internal correspondence sent to all HSE regional directors and the health service’s finance director, Liam Woods, said the move is because the health service “cannot afford” the surging expense, set to hit €61 million by the year’s end.

The July 26 letter, which claimed the workload could be taken up by incoming Indian and Pakistani doctors, confirmed that in the first five months of this year, €5.1m was spent per month on short-term junior doctor jobs.