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The department employed over 200 more staff members than it had planned or budgeted for. Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland

HSE managerial and admin staff begin industrial action

The staff not be working outside of their contracted hours or do any work relating to publishing the service’s statistics.

STAFF MEMBERS IN managerial and administrative posts are working-to-rule after the HSE introduced a complete recruitment freeze on Wednesday.

The staff 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.

The decision to impose a recruitment freeze was taken by CEO Bernard Gloster after the department employed over 200 more staff members than it had planned or budgeted for this year.

Worries over the potential impact the overemployment could have towards threatening the recruitment of front-line staff such as nurses, midwives and doctors have grown in the Department of Health.

The action taken by the managerial and admin staff could also have consequences within the service as it enters its busy “winter surge” period.

A union representing the workers, Forsa, said they had no choice but to resume their industrial action yesterday due to the HSE’s decision to freeze all recruitment and replacement of staff. 

The inclusion not to replace staff members when required was highlighted as a one of the major factors that resulted in Forsa’s members choosing to take industrial action this year, Ashley Connolly told Newstalk this morning.

The department has said it is “deeply disappointing” that the union has chosen to take that industrial action, in what was decided in a secret ballot that an overwhelming majority of members (93%) voted in favour for earlier this year.

Department and HSE officials believe that the action will have an impact on patient care and believe it is “unwarranted”, given the category of staff is already overemployed.

Connolly said: “We equally share the concerns, in terms of the ‘runaway train’ that is the HSE’s budget, but when an organisation is spending over a billion euro on agency staff and over 500 million [euro] on external consultants, you do have to call into question the mismanagement (sic.) of the overall budget.”

The HSE received funding to employ an additional 1,400 admin and managerial staff members this year however, the category was overemployed to a total of 1,650 new staff members.

The bloating of staff members in this category is evident when compared to the number of frontline staff members recruited during this time.

The workforce of admin staff has increased by over 30% since December 2019, compared to 23% and 18% in doctors and nurses, respectively.

However, in a statement yesterday, Connolly said the targeting of the overemployed category is “unjust and will negatively impact on the provision of clinical services”.

She added that the category is not the cause of the HSE’s budget overspend and blames the “continued [use] of agency workers and private external consultants” in the service.

Yesterday, 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.

Additional reporting from Christina Finn & Eimer McAuley

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    Mute D M
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    Oct 6th 2023, 4:31 PM

    I have sat in the outpatient waiting room of St James’s and st Vincent’s Hosp , 3 staff behind the desk in full view , chatted for 2.5 hours about their annual leave bookings , dates for holidays and where , break times , holidays they have had before . While other admin staff came in and out to visit for more chats ..I just watched and thought what a waste of money paying people who are not really needed, one person was enough there. While I had to wait hours to see doctor due to shortages . Money going to the wrong areas. I have worked as a nurse , and it’s a different story !!

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    Mute Setanta O'Toole
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    Oct 6th 2023, 6:01 PM

    @D M: i preferred the one yesterday about a and e under your other id. There was more depth to the characters.

    31
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    Mute
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    Oct 6th 2023, 2:54 PM

    Them folders and pens ain’t push themselves!!

    210
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    Mute
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    Oct 6th 2023, 2:49 PM

    People in managerial or admin roles work hard too you know. Get little recognition because the front line nurses and doctors deserve it of course, but are enabled by the managers and administrators.

    101
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    Mute
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    Oct 6th 2023, 2:59 PM

    I have first hand experience working working in admin with HSC in the West of the country a few years ago and nothing short of a joke shop.. there’s offices full of staff with nothing to do… trying to look busy was the biggest problem.. and now they’re striking.. Jesus wept..

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    Mute Patrick Kelly
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:03 PM

    @: you are joking.

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    Mute
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:03 PM

    ** HSE

    11
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    Mute Setanta O'Toole
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    Oct 6th 2023, 6:00 PM

    Such first hand experience you don’t even get their name correct. LOL!

    19
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    Mute John Mcmahon
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    Oct 6th 2023, 6:33 PM

    I’ll refer you to the comment below this one

    3
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    Mute Pauline Gallagher
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    Oct 6th 2023, 10:40 PM

    @: Work? yes. Its a job, we go to work. Work ‘HARD??’ we dont. We really, really dont. Im a clerical officer in the HSE and its like a friggin holiday camp. People get away with murder.

    25
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    Mute Martin O,Reilly
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    Oct 7th 2023, 1:35 AM

    Is that why the admin sat on the upper floors, and received a wage rise?
    We covid swabbers were on ground level swabbing thousands and did not receive a brown cent. Totally illogical, as there was swabbers being infected daily.
    The HSE are obviously befond reproach to anyone
    This archaic system has to be brought to heel, and the sooner the better.

    12
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    Mute lWOk0fWf
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:39 PM

    Disband the HSE and start again.
    An utterly inept drain on finances that could be used to employ actual medical staff instead of overpaid and incompetent penpishers

    154
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    Mute Jim O'Sullivan
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    Oct 6th 2023, 4:11 PM

    @lWOk0fWf: Have a chat with Michael Martin, he and Mary Harney set up the HSE so as to divert criticism from themselves as they went about privatizing our health service.

    72
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    Mute Jen McC
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    Oct 6th 2023, 5:15 PM

    @lWOk0fWf: Hi incompetent penpisher here! The HSE didn’t hire as much frontline staff because they didn’t get enough applications. Many doctors and nurses don’t want to work in the HSE. In terms of admin the main issue is the millions being spent on agency staff, instead of making them permanent HSE staff. That alone attributes massively to the overspend. But I’m sure you know more than someone like me, who works in the HSE.

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    Mute Martin O,Reilly
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    Oct 7th 2023, 1:40 AM

    @lWOk0fWf: Totally agree with you!

    3
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    Mute lWOk0fWf
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    Oct 7th 2023, 2:39 AM

    @Jen McC: and why do you think they don’t get applications?
    It’s because of the HSE.
    I feel sorry for the genuine hard working people in its ranks but you know as well as I that there’s an awful lot of dead weight.
    It’s a s*** show.

    12
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    Mute If you're
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    Oct 6th 2023, 2:54 PM

    Privatise Privatise Privatise. A good Thatcherite boot in the whole for those who don’t actually contribute.

    70
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    Mute Tom D
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:16 PM

    @If you’re: the HSE would have been out of business years ago if it had to run like a real business, i.e., depend on statisying customers to keep afloat. Instead, the HSE effectively runs to keep its public sector union employees happy

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    Mute Kate Mchugh
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:22 PM

    @Tom D: That’s interesting. Why do you choose to believe that.

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    Mute Brendan Greene
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:27 PM

    @Tom D: rubbish. The Health Service is not and should be a business. If Thatcherite privatisation actually worked then the British NHS would be the envy of the whole world.

    26
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    Mute Chris O'Brien
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:43 PM

    @If you’re: jazes this is a mental bit of nonsense.

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    Mute If you're
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    Oct 6th 2023, 5:15 PM

    @Brendan Greene: Private Hospitals do twice the work with half the staff and still have money over to keep their investors happy. It’s not rocket science.

    29
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    Mute Tom D
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    Oct 6th 2023, 6:03 PM

    @Brendan Greene: What are you on about. The NHS is proof positive of the failure of a public sector run health system. HSE is the same. Patients are seen as a burden and its a complete disgrace. You’ve got a naive view of how public sector run services actually work out. Its straight out of a 1980s Soviet Union. We need to look to Holland, Germany and France for properly run systems.

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    Mute Journal Factchecker
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    Oct 6th 2023, 4:44 PM

    The cheek. €30 billion+ annual budget for a third word service and they want more?

    58
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    Mute Temp Stuff
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:04 PM

    I hope they have to wait in line to be seen by the government.

    53
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    Mute Sean Wilde
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    Oct 6th 2023, 4:14 PM

    Only Forsa members are on the work to rule, there is no strike. I’ve been working all day and am winding down now. I think there’s one in my office in the union and she’s on annual leave today.

    Anywhere I’ve worked in my past 10 years here has struggled to get staff from frontline admin to payroll. I’d love to have a office full of colleagues, I mightn’t be so busy.

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    Mute Pauline Gallagher
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    Oct 6th 2023, 10:42 PM

    @Sean Wilde: Forsa are horrible if you get on the wrong side of them. For the little lapdogs that they do have? they will fight the corner on every dumb non issue they have.

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    Mute Tadhg Sebastian
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    Oct 6th 2023, 2:50 PM

    The staff not be working.

    38
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    Mute Ann neylan
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:10 PM

    @Tadhg Sebastian: … twice! :)

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    Mute Willie Marty
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:24 PM

    The HSE – the team that keeps on giving.Is Paul Reid the lad on £400k+ going on a go slow.Give those lads on the top tier a break.They are ovrrworked and underpayed.

    33
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    Mute Jp Cleary
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    Oct 6th 2023, 4:06 PM

    @Willie Marty: he left months ago

    33
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    Mute Setanta O'Toole
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    Oct 6th 2023, 6:06 PM

    @Willie Marty: didn’t panel so Willie no?

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    Mute Willie Marty
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    Oct 6th 2023, 8:17 PM

    @Jp Cleary: incorrect

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    Mute robrot 64
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:22 PM

    Hopeless
    Secretive
    Employees.

    38
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    Mute Setanta O'Toole
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    Oct 6th 2023, 6:19 PM

    @robrot 64: Alright Aldi Morrissey.

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    Mute Chris O'Brien
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:39 PM

    You’d strike to if you worked in the 80th worst healthcare system in the world.

    29
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    Mute Willie Marty
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:49 PM

    @Chris O’Brien: and why is it the worst

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    Mute Peadar O'Grady
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    Oct 6th 2023, 5:58 PM

    The use of the word ‘bloated’ in the article does not apply to frontline workers. Admin frontline staff are crucial to service. They are the people who answer when you call, arrange your appointment and keep your information safe, filed and available to health staff. Managers not linked to frontline we could do with less of. Privatisation we could do with less of. Anyone remember the private sector crashed the entire world economy in 2008 through idiotic, wasteful and greedy administration (gambling) with everyone’s money? Properly paid permanent frontline workers in the health service are urgently needed. We all need these workers to win fair conditions.

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    Mute Niall Sheridan
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    Oct 6th 2023, 5:47 PM

    Industrial action? Will we notice?

    21
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    Mute Ronan Mc
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    Oct 6th 2023, 3:20 PM

    Just a reminder when we needed it. Unions work to secure the best pay and conditions for their members first and foremost.
    Various unions allude to poor patient outcomes, educational outcomes, passenger safety etc. if their demands aren’t met. Improved services for customers as a result of union action is an unintended consequence of the action.

    19
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    Mute Paddy Up
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    Oct 6th 2023, 8:54 PM

    The amount of people on her who have zero clue what the so called “pen pushers” actually do in the HSE and complaining are the very same people who would complain at the drop of a hat over an admin error and complain as to what someone wasn’t employed to keep an eye on it.

    19
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    Mute BarryH
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    Oct 6th 2023, 6:28 PM

    I was watching ‘Yes Minister’ (Compassionate Society) on BBC4, about a 1,000-bed hospital, with no patients and 500 admin staff. (As a compromise, they ended up putting 1,000 refugees in it.) Sounds familiar.
    The incompetence is mind-boggling. Where is the accountability? We can blame the HSE all we want but the people making these c0ck ups are people just like us, hiding behind the HSE name, belittling the reputation of the good staff working there. As for the Unions, they like those in ‘hiding’ are a disgrace.

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    Mute K P
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    Oct 6th 2023, 7:32 PM

    Place will probably run better now

    11
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    Mute Nickb
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    Oct 7th 2023, 3:53 AM

    Are they just realising now that the HSE is ‘too heavy’ with admin and management. The dogs it the street have known this for years . Dept of Health needs to get its act together and start firing not hiring , starting at the top naturally!
    The figures don’t lie!

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    Mute Pato
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    Oct 6th 2023, 7:54 PM

    No-one will notice

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    Mute Pato
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    Oct 7th 2023, 10:39 AM

    @Paddy Up. It is not the case that we,I at least, do not know what these people do.
    I have been in hospitals for the past 4 months and have seen some of them out in public, parading up and down the corridors.
    The rest are invisible as they make a complete balls of scheduled care.

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    Mute rosemary flowers
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    Oct 9th 2023, 10:21 PM

    Nobody will miss them except the cafe and shop staff. Anyone who had had to sit for hours in out patients knows what I mean. There is a constant stream of admin and clerical staff with phone in one hand and paper cup in the other walking up and down discussing their time off, last holiday, next holiday, latest boyfriend, newest car. The one thing they’re not doing is working. If you walk into the Blackrock Private Clinic which has approximately the same bed numbers as a HSE regional hospital, big difference. 6 clerical administration staff run the whole place, they answer phones, deal with appointments, billing, letters, internal mail, filing, inputting information on computer and deal with the public at the reception desk. It takes approximately 200 HSE staff to do the same thing.

    2
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