Secretary General of the Department of Health, Mr Michael Scanlan, wrote to the HSE last year that there was a need for the Executive to ensure greater coherence between expenditure and Employment Control Framework (ECF) allocations for various care groups. In a letter to HSE CEO Mr Cathal Magee on December 13 2010, Mr Scanlan said such an approach was necessary given the former Health Minister Mary Harney’s stipulation that the HSE prepare its Service Plan 2011 on the basis of a specified maximum budget reduction for disability and mental health services, a specified minimum budget reduction for acute hospitals, and a balancing reduction for other services.
“There is little point in seeking to protect the budget for mental health, for example, if the staff attrition rate for that care group continues to be very high and the ECF does not allow/incentivise appropriate responses to this,” he stated. Mr Scanlan wrote that he was aware that the HSE is now providing employment data on a care group basis. “While some refinement is required in that regard, I believe the HSE needs now to set employment ceilings/target minimum levels for the three groups above (disability/mental health, acute hospitals and ‘others’) reflecting the provisions of the expenditure reductions,” he added.
The 2011 ECF states that the numbers employed in the health sector will decrease from 109,372 at the end of 2010, to 104,810 at the end of 2011, a reduction of 4,562. The ECF provides for the continuation in 2011 of the limited exemption allowed last year for psychiatric nurses because of the likelihood of a high level of retirements this year, and also to address the high cost of agency cover in the area. Also, the creation of 50 additional advanced nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist posts was allowed to mitigate difficulties being caused by the shortage of NCHDs in some hospitals, and to make better use of the nursing resource in priority areas such as radiation oncology.
There are provisions for medical interns, with 10 places created for implementing reforms recommended by the National Committee on Medical Education and Training and 30 places to cater for the continued expansion of medical student places. There will also be the continuation of the existing exemption in respect of specific grades. The information was obtained by IMN through Freedom of Information
