CUH mental health unit spent €4m on agency staff, with annual cost tripling in six years

Pádraig Rice, Social Democrats health spokesman, said the 'colossal increase in agency spending must be reversed'. Picture: Larry Cummins 

The acute mental health unit at Cork University Hospital has spent more than €4m on temporary agency staff, with the annual cost almost tripling since 2019.

These new HSE figures come just two months after the Mental Health Commission (MHC) raised serious concerns about staffing levels at the unit.

Agency staff are external healthcare workers who are hired on a temporary basis by the HSE, usually when they are short-staffed. 

They can be hired when a service lack specific skills.

At this unit, the agency bill covers nurses, medical staff, administration workers, and last year also housekeeping staff.

The total bill for 2019 was €373,017, but by last year this had reached €1.13m.

Additionally, in a sign this trend is set to continue, the bill for January to March of this year stood at €213,484.

Psychiatric nurses made up the bulk of the numbers, with €622,169 spent last year, up from €197,726 in 2019. 

In the first three months of this year alone, the unit spent €118,256 on nursing staff.

In another sign of pressures on recruitment, the unit had to hire agency staff for housekeeping, at a cost of €1,060 last year.

The data was shared in response to a parliamentary query from Pádraig Rice, Social Democrats health spokesman.

“This colossal increase in agency spending must be reversed,” he said.

We need to see these posts converted into permanent HSE positions and put a stop to this growing overreliance on outsourcing to the private sector.

He said full-time permanent staff were “not only better value for money, but they would provide the kind of consistency and skills-mix that this unit so desperately needs”. 

Mr Rice raised these concerns in light of the MHC report, saying this found the unit non-compliant with necessary staffing numbers.

In a letter released with the figures, Declan Cronin, acting head for mental health services, acknowledged the “financial challenges” this way of working brings.

He said agency staff were used to “ensure patient safety and maintain service delivery, particularly during staffing shortages, unplanned absences, or in areas with recruitment challenges”. 

These staff are needed to offer a flexible service and specialist skills, Mr Cronin added. 

He also said this helped maintain care standards and legal staffing requirements.

“While this approach supports continuity of care, it also presents financial challenges, prompting ongoing efforts to reduce reliance on agency staffing,” he said.

Earlier this year, the daughter of a patient at the unit echoed the MHC’s concerns. 

Susan Keane had noticed the impact of staff shortages during her mother’s stay.

“When I read the report, I felt less alone, I felt this is not just a poor service that my mother is experiencing,” she told the Irish Examiner.

“People need to know, I feel if this is happening to my mother, it is everyone."

"And not everyone has an advocate acting for them," she added. 

“The whole time I’m just thinking, is she going to have another fall, is she going to fall again?”