More nurses and midwives to be hired by year end

Health Minister Simon Harris is to draw on a rarely used legal provision to force the HSE to recruit an additional 1,208 nurses and midwives by year end as part of an agreed workforce plan.

The provision, contained in the 2010 Health Act, allows the minister of the day to issue a direction with which the HSE must comply. It is the second time in just over a week that legal force has been applied to compel the HSE into action.

Last week, a HSE official was asked in the High Court to swear to abide by the terms of a settlement in the case of Grace, a woman awarded a €6.3m HSE-funded package in compensation for appalling mistreatment while in State care.