Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health David Cullinane TD has heavily criticised the Minister for Health and the Minister for Public Expenditure for failing to halt the HSE’s run-away spending on agency staffing.
 
Teachta Cullinane said this was inevitable following the Government’s disastrous recruitment embargo, which was eventually lifted this month. He said the embargo, as predicted, prevented the HSE from reducing its reliance on agency staffing while it was unable to directly recruit replacement staff.
 
The TD for Waterford was responding to new data received through a parliamentary question reply (link below) which shows that HSE spending on agency staffing has increased by €25 million, or 10%, in the period January to May 2024, despite a commitment to cut agency spending. The PQ reply shows that agency spending for January to May 2024 rose to €288.5 million, up from €263.5 million in 2023. Total agency spending in 2023 was €647.3 million, which the HSE Service Plan for 2024 targeted for a €250 million reduction.
 
Teachta Cullinane said:
 
“HSE agency spending on privately employed workers has shot up another 10% this year. More was spent on agency staffing in the first 5 months of this year than in the entire year of 2015. The HSE Service Plan pledged a one-third cut in agency hours, valued at €250 million. All they have achieved is a further €25 million increase.
 
“Minister Donnelly’s failure to clamp down on the HSE’s run-away agency spending was an inevitable consequence of the Government’s disastrous recruitment embargo. Sinn Féin, unions, and others rightly predicted that this would be the case. The embargo prevented the direct recruitment of staff to replace agency use, despite this being a cheaper option.
 
“Potential reform that could have led to real savings was prevented by Minister Pascal Donohoe’s hardline approach to the health budget. This approach failed because Minister Donohoe clearly does not understand the problems in the health service. This failure makes a mockery of public sector spending controls. At the end of the day, Minister Donohoe had to write a €1.5 billion bailout cheque for the health service anyway.
 
“The recruitment embargo and the deliberate underfunding of the health service were wrong, dangerous, and counterproductive. They have only damaged morale and the HSE’s reputation as an employer.
 
“Sinn Féin would have sanctioned an additional 5,000 frontline clinical posts in 2024, instead of the Government’s paltry 2,200, while mandating conversion of agency staff to direct HSE staff. We would not have prevented the HSE from doing the very thing required to reduce agency spending without reducing patient services. There is significant waste and inefficiency across the health service, but the idea of multi-billion savings in a single year is and always was delusional.”
 
Note: The Parliamentary Question response is available to view here