‘Young women mainly affected by HSE staffing issues’, says union representative 

Young women are predominantly affected by staffing issues in the HSE brought on by first the recruitment embargo and now the pay and numbers strategy, a union representative has said.

Liz Fay, Forsa representative who covers the HSE South West regional health area, told The Echo that the current staffing situation “is putting immense pressure on staff, who are aware that the work they do is of the utmost importance in people’s lives”.

“There’s a lot of stress for staff who are aware that there is going to be backlog in patient waiting lists,” she said.

The HSE Pay and Numbers Strategy 2024 replaced the moratorium on hiring new staff but replaced it with a new approved maximum staff figure.

Each of the six HSE health regions and each national service has been provided with its own specified number of staff and can “within that approved number, replace, recruit and prioritise,” and managers will have to control recruitment to stay in line with the approved maximum.

Block

Ms Fay explained: “At the moment, there is a block on replacing colleagues who go on leave such as maternity and paternity leave, career breaks etc.

“The people taking these leaves are predominantly female, and the HSE itself has a high percentage of female employees.

“Women who want to be beginning families or have young kids at home, this pay and numbers strategy means that those people who are availing of leave, which is their right, know that their colleagues who are left behind are going to be carrying their workload.”

She added that Forsa members have shared that “they are aware before taking their leave that their managers have been engaging with their colleagues asking how they are going to get that extra work done.

“It should be the happiest time in their life,” she said, “but now they have this added stress of knowing their co-workers will have to take on extra work, they feel like they’re burdening them.”

Protested

Over 200 health service staff protested at the gates of Cork University Hospital on Thursday to demand an end to staffing levels that they say are unsafe for both workers and patients.

The HSE told The Echo that the pay and numbers strategy “provides greater oversight when responding to the needs of the population and prioritising appropriately,” saying that “there will be 2,350 new jobs advertised for this year, and recruitment has started.” 

However, unions say these hires will not cover the amount of staff that are needed.