Fewer than 300 health staff deployed after 'Be On Call' recruitment drive

David Cullinane: The 1,400 staff deemed eligible for work under the Be On Call for Ireland campaign should be hired immediately. Picture: Gareth Chaney

The 1,400 health staff in a pool of candidates from the Be On Call For Ireland campaign must be hired immediately to meet the challenges of the winter and allow the Government deliver on its budget promises.

That is according to Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane, who said he has doubts over the Government's budget announcements in health, which include ambitious targets to employ 16,000 extra staff by the end of 2021.

While the budget says that a "larger, more permanent expansion of workforce is needed to continue to meet the demands of the pandemic and to enable the resumption of healthcare services", Mr Cullinane, a Waterford TD, said there are more than 1,400 qualified healthcare professionals who signed up to the Be On Call scheme who have not yet been given contracts.

The scheme, launched in March, asked health professionals who were abroad or no longer in the system to return. 

It was just one of the HSE's recruitment campaigns this year and the executive has said it has recruited across the sector. Run at a cost of over €600,000, more than 73,000 people initially applied, though only 3,000 were deemed eligible. 

The scheme has thus far seen fewer than 300 doctors and nurses deployed, with a further 1,400 currently in the recruitment pool, Mr Cullinane said.

"What doesn't make sense to me is that the minister said in a press conference the other day that the HSE will move heaven and earth to recruit as many staff as he can," Mr Cullinane said.

How does that measure up to having almost 1,400 staff that have responded to Be On Call For Ireland? To have them in a pool, as it's called, some job-ready, some still awaiting clearance but in the clearance process? 

"They can be offered jobs today and could come into the public service, and work in hospitals today to open up beds, which need to be open. It doesn't make sense."

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said his department's €22bn budget would "provide permanent funding for the capacity and staff introduced in 2020 and planned under the HSE winter plan", saying that 16,000 staff would be added on 2020 levels by next year.