Nurses to reapply for jobs after 20% cut
Last night the HSE moved to clarify a circular issued last December ordering any hospitals that had provided contracts of employment to 2012 graduates following on from their final clinical placement to immediately discontinue such contracts.
A spokeswoman for the HSE said the nurses would have been due to finish their clinical placement in December but in some cases, they may have been offered a short contract to remain on. It was these contracts that were being discontinued, she said. The spokeswoman conceded that it meant the nurses would have to reapply for posts for which they would be paid 20% less.
The new two-year contracts are part of an HSE cost-cutting exercise to reduce the use of agency staff and overtime.
While the HSE claims the 1,000 graduate posts represent additional staff, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said this claim was a “sleight of hand” because in reality, the HSE plan is to shed agency nurses.
INMO industrial relations spokesman Michael Dineen said it did not mean the number of nurses in the system would increase from the current 35,000 to 36,000 “no matter what way you dress it up”.
“The HSE is saying they are additional posts, but they are replacing agency staff and overtime with cheap labour,” Mr Dineen said.
“Last year’s graduates suffered a 10% cut. Now there is another 20% cut. On top of cuts to the public sector, the overall reduction is in the order of 34%,” Mr Dineen said.
The HSE yesterday began advertising 1,000 graduate nurse positions on two-year contracts, with starting salaries 20% lower than those of existing nurses.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, INMO chief Liam Doran said the positions were “not new jobs” and would result in experienced agency and temporary nursing staff being replaced by new graduates at a lower salary of about €22,000 instead of the current €26,400 rate.
Mr Doran also said some new graduates who were already in employment were having those contracts cancelled by the HSE, which would make them reapply for the new graduate programme for which they will be paid a lower salary.
HSE human resources chief Barry O’Brien said the INMO was “absolutely incorrect” and described the claim as “hugely misleading”.
The INMO called on nurses not to apply for the 1,000 graduate positions.
Mr Doran claimed graduates employed under the scheme would not be offered special mentoring or support and would be expected to carry the full responsibilities of every other nurse employed by the HSE. He said the UK offered “far more competitive salaries, far better educational opportunities and a far warmer welcome than the Irish health service” and said it was no surprise that so many young nurses were emigrating.
