THE HEALTH SERVICE is to be hit by ‘work to rule’ industrial action from managerial and administrative staff from tomorrow, as a union representing the workers accused HSE bosses of “walking away’ from talks yesterday. 

Workers are taking action in protest against the HSE’s reliance on agency staff, while a full recruitment embargo is in place on clerical administrative staff and managers at grade three and above. 

This means that admin staff will not be working outside of their contracted hours, or do work related to publishing emergency department statistics, or the rate of delayed discharges in hospitals.

Forsa said that it had no choice but to resume industrial action due to the HSE’s “renewed imposition” of the recruitment embargo on administrative staff, “despite ongoing talks on a framework agreement”. 

The HSE is going to be impacted by the action as it enters the busy winter “surge” period, when hospital overcrowding annually escalates due to increased emergency department visits and hospital admissions. 

Staff taking part in the action will also boycott finance and HR processes, refuse to supply information to the HSE’s advisors or external private consultants, as well as refusing to engage with extended working week proposals.

Administrative staff will also refuse to engage with requests from politicians, or to undertake tasks associated with an empty post, or a higher job grade. 

Forsa trade union, which represents many health and welfare workers, said that the recruitment embargo simply means that current staff will have to “do the work of empty posts”. 

Its members took part in a secret ballot, which returned a 93% vote in favour of taking industrial action. 

Forsa national secretary for health and welfare Ashley Connolly said that it is “regrettable” that the HSE has “abandoned discussions and walked away from this process”. 

“It’s important to stress that our members are not the cause of the HSE budget overrun. It’s the continued use of agency workers and private external consultants at a cost of hundreds of million of euro that must be addressed,” she said. 

“In the context of its lavish spending on external advisors, and the existing pressures on clinical staff, the decision to restrict the recruitment of clerical and administrative staff will mean clinical staff won’t have the support they need as they respond to growing service demands.

“Crucial posts will be left unfilled, and the burden will shift to existing staff,” she added. 

The clerical and admin section accounts for just under 20% of the HSE’s overall workforce. 

30,000 health and welfare workers are represented by Fórsa, including management, clerical, administrative and clinical staff. 

Potential strike action by up to 5,000 health and community workers on 17 October, who are employed in community and voluntary sector agencies funded by the HSE and other state agencies, was also raised today. 

Sinn Féín’s Louise O’Reilly said the State will have to step in to provide services for families if strike action cannot be averted.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said an offer was made to the workers’ union, but was not accepted. He urged all parties to get back around the table through the industrial relations mechanisms, stating that the department is will to re-engage. 

With reporting by Christina Finn