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Here's how many people have left the HSE over the past four years

Hint: it’s a lot.

NEW FIGURES SHOW that more than 10,000 people have left the health service in the past four years as the HSE has simultaneously had its budget slashed massively and imposed a hiring freeze.

The total number of employees has fallen from 111,770 in 2009 to 101,451 in May of this year.

The biggest drop has been in the area of general support staff, who have had their numbers reduced by more than one fifth. This category of staff includes caterers, maintenance and cleaning staff. Some of the services have been outsourced to private companies in  a bid to save money.

The number of medical and dental staff has remained almost the same, but the number of nurses has dropped significantly as many graduates emigrate rather than choose to work in Ireland.

The changes between March 2009 and May 2013 are:

  • Medical/Dental staff: + 165
  • Nursing staff: – 3,987
  • Health and social care professionals: – 170
  • Management/admin: -2,266
  • General support staff: -2,751
  • Other patient and client care: – 1,311

Almost 3,000 employees recently applied for a paid career break in the HSE but the vast majority of applications had to be rejected.

A senior HSE executive told TheJournal.ie that the service is struggling to continue to provide frontline services in the face of ongoing severe cuts and the high number of people leaving.

Read: HSE receives 2,700 applications for career breaks – far more than expected >

Read: Over 49,000 people are waiting for inpatient or day case treatments >

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37 Comments
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    Mute Louthmouth
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:38 AM

    Loads of jobs going in IT have to say i regret doing an apprenticeship when I finished school instead of going to college never too late though :)

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    Mute artur filip
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    Nov 5th 2013, 8:43 AM

    Great news early morning

    55
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    Mute philip farrelly
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    Nov 5th 2013, 8:51 AM

    From the acorn grows the mighty oak.

    53
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    Mute James Darby
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:09 AM

    Can’t believe this article is up nearly half an hour and nobody’s been on to knock the good news.

    44
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    Mute John Gleeson
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:01 AM

    Good news.Hopefully we can turn a corner next year,its about time.

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    Mute Genius
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:05 AM

    We are turning corners a few year now.

    27
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    Mute Sean Baylon
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:12 AM

    Yeah we turned three corners and came back to where we started 25 years ago..

    35
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    Mute Tom Harpur
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    Nov 5th 2013, 10:45 AM

    Looks like pretty soon there’ll be nobody left in towns cities and villages in Ireland everybody will be living and working in Dublin.

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    Mute Matt
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    Nov 5th 2013, 10:48 AM

    Better Dublin than Australia!

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    Mute Marc Marcel
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    Nov 5th 2013, 11:28 AM

    at least you’d find a place to live in Australia, it is a big place after all very much like the places where most coming here are from. They must think Dublin is the size of London, strange. How many more you think we can fit?

    You’ll find and see they’ll start to branch out eventually, much further than Intel’s Leixlip. Watch the scram for housing Athlone, Cavan!

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    Mute Matt
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    Nov 5th 2013, 11:34 AM

    Im confused with your comment, doesn’t make a lot of sense. Anyway, im sure you know Marc. It’s not all about size is it…

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    Mute richardmccarthy
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    Nov 5th 2013, 10:08 AM

    Its all very well for Mr Bruton with a big smile on his face to announce yet again more jobs for Dublin,as if the rest of the country dont exist,its having the effect of turning other areas into ghost towns with no jobs and no prospects,in some of these areas there are no young people left because they have all emmigrated,and just like former generations before them,many of the brightest and best will not return,this is not what the country needs or wants.

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    Mute James Darby
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    Nov 5th 2013, 10:34 AM

    Oh no Richard, you mean, your kids have to emigrate to Dublin. How awful.

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    Mute richardmccarthy
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    Nov 5th 2013, 11:19 AM

    No James,you just dont get,devoloping local communities must be a priority if this country is ever to get up off its knees,SMEs and local enterprises must be given priority,FDI which recieves the bulk of all government grants will never solve all our unimployment problems.

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    Mute Marc Marcel
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    Nov 5th 2013, 11:33 AM

    jobs for the visitors, first point of call? Dublin. set up shop there where the visitors live, these jobs aren’t for the rest of Ireland. The lifestyle choice, long may it not last, while they live 4 to an apartment down in their fancy spencer and grand canal docks. A temporary lifestyle choice where home is not actually there, it’s just a bit of fun.

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    Mute Cillian Adamson
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    Nov 5th 2013, 5:15 PM

    Hope you realise that large firms require large population catchments. It is stupid to think that an international marketing firm would not set up in Ireland’s primate city, along with all other multinationals that require what Dublin offers.
    Keep thinking small, that never damaged Ireland’s growth before…

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    Mute Fergus Fahy
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:01 AM

    Why is it that Dublin gets the majority of all jobs announced these days. There are 25 other counties you know. Its highly unbalanced.

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    Mute Genius
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:04 AM

    Infrastructure and talent.

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    Mute John Gleeson
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:11 AM

    It is unfair i agree,but look at it from a company’s point of view if they set up in Dubln they have access to a bigger pool of people to hire,they have access to better infrastructure and a host of other benefits.But you are correct like everything else in Ireland it always turns into a two tier system,one economy for Dublin and another for the rest of the country,whether this happens organically or by design i’m not sure,probably the latter.

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    Mute Mark Lillis
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:14 AM

    An infrastructure that is under severe pressure already. Water, broadband, electricity all had their problems over the last week or two.
    The Government needs to do a bit more to equalize any growth. This would be good for the rest of the country and good for Dublin in the long run.

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    Mute Ben Gunn
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    Nov 5th 2013, 9:27 AM

    You cannot force a business into any particular location if it does not want to go there.
    The IDA does everything it can to persuade businesses to locate in areas with the highest unemployment.

    I worked for an American company in the 90′s and we set up a business in Dublin. During the negotiations with the then DE&E the financial incentive to open in the West of Ireland was 3 times greater than that offerred for Dublin. We opened in Dublin for a variety of reasons, which, for us, the rest of Ireland couldn’t offer.

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    Mute Matt
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    Nov 5th 2013, 10:45 AM

    It’s the same in the UK, London like Dublin is the centre for almost everything. The creative people the talent the expertise are based in the city. These companies want to locate in Dublin. Once the engine of your country is going strong the rest of the country will see the benefits. This is good news.

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    Mute Marc Euclio O'Connell
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    Nov 5th 2013, 12:05 PM

    Well more jobs, no matter where they are, means more income taxes which means, over time, less pressure on the government coffers which means, eventually, more IDA spending around the country.

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    Mute Fergal Reid
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    Nov 5th 2013, 12:15 PM

    Easily half the country’s population – if not more – lives within commuting distance of the capital. It’s hardly surprising that international businesses want to set up shop in a city stocked with universities and institutes of technology, with decent road and rail connections and and attractive civic culture. Could more be done for cities like Galway and Limerick? Sure. The island’s entire pharmaceutical industry is in Cork so they seem to be doing okay. Aside from that, do you really expect many companies to make a beeline for Leitrim or Donegal?

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    Mute John Gleeson
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    Nov 6th 2013, 8:37 AM

    What really needs to be done is to take back our oil,gas and maritime resources,we are a very rich country the irish simply don’t realise it.there is trillions of euro’s swimming off the coast of ireland and trillions more under the sea bed.

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