Money HSE spent on employing temporary staff dubbed 'ridiculous'

The HSE’s budgeting system for employing contracted staff and agency workers have been dubbed a “joke” and a “mockery of proper spending controls”.

That is after it emerged that the money spent on employing temporary staff is set to run at least 30% over budget for the fourth year in succession.

In the first six months of 2019 €207 million was spent on locum workers within the health service, against a budget of €161 million, an overspend of 29%.

Similar figures have been seen going back as far as 2016, a year in which spending on agency workers ran just under €100 million over budget.

The consistent over-runs are indicative of institutions that are consistently running shy of adequate cover in key positions thus bringing about a need for short term solutions.

The new figures stand in stark contrast to the HSE’s professed need to cut down on overspend, given that agency workers are typically paid a wage well in excess of directly contracted staff.

“This is a perennial issue now, and it makes a mockery of properly functioning spending controls,” said Alan Kelly, Labour’s health spokesperson.

Right up until last week there were at least 100 nursing vacancies in University Hospital Limerick yet the HSE excessively spends tens and tens of millions on agency staff.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous and makes a mockery of the Minister (Simon Harris) saying that he wants to see all graduate nurses offered employment, yet he’s willing to spend this amount on agency staff,” Mr Kelly said.

He added that he is "sick of raising this and no one listening”.

“I’ve raised this in the Dail, at health committee, at the public accounts committee, and nothing changes. Anyone with a basic understanding of healthcare and finance knows it doesn’t make sense. It really serves to show the magnitude of a task it is to instigate change in the health system,” he said.

While spending on agency cover has run wildly over budget in recent years, the overall HSE spend with regard to directly contracted staff has run slightly ahead of estimates for the past four years.

The budget for locum workers rose by 24% between 2016 and 2018, but that increase was insufficient to stem the tide of overspend.

In 2017 payments ran €87 million, or 31% over budget. In 2018 that dropped to 28%, albeit again with outlays above target of €88 million.

Last week the Irish Examiner highlighted the overspend being seen in mental health services specifically, where overheads ran a massive 176% over budget in 2016.