HSE and unions greet new working hours deal for Cork healthcare staff

A Cork union representative has said that the HSE’s deal with healthcare staff regarding extended working hours will bring challenges, but overall it represents a positive move.

The ground-breaking agreement will see an extended health service, whereby some staff will be rostered over seven days instead of five.

A HSE spokesperson told The Echo: “We can confirm that agreement has been reached with the health service trade unions on arrangements to facilitate the introduction of an extended working day and week in the HSE and HSE-funded agencies.

“The overarching aim of these extended hours of service is to facilitate smoother patient flow and greater levels of discharge in all parts of the healthcare system over a seven-day week.”

CEO of the HSE Bernard Gloster thanked the unions for their engagement, saying it had been a priority for the health minister Jennifer Carroll McNeill and the HSE.

Teething problems 

Siptu health sector organiser Sharon Cregan, who represents the union’s members in CUH, said that there would likely be teething problems with the new system, but that it was ultimately a positive step forward.

She told The Echo: “Our members work in various grades of the health service, so some already work five days over seven, like nursing and support grades. This agreement ensures that our health service isn’t just a Monday to Friday thing, because the services are needed 24/7.”

However, she added: “There has to be an appropriate level of staff maintained throughout the working week. We also need to see adequate staffing levels, and the pay and numbers strategy could restrict that.”

She explained that they believe that the policies may provide for premium pay on Sundays, but added that, though the choice to work weekends or different hours is to be voluntary, there are concerns that if not enough people do volunteer for it, then it will have to be made mandatory perhaps for the staff who are in the job the least amount of time.