CUH boss says hospital is 'unsafe' as over 1,000 roles vacant
CUH has had to “repeatedly re-prioritise” posts, the chief executive said. Picture: Chani Anderson
Patient safety is at risk at CUH, as the hospital currently has more than 1,000 staff roles vacant, the CEO has said.
Jennifer Kearney has written a strongly worded letter to a HSE south west manager, saying that “increasingly bureaucratic processes” and “a prolonged suppression of recruitment” have left 348 whole time equivalent posts vacant despite having funding.
There are an additional 249 approved but unfunded vacancies, 202 posts identified but never filled, with 166 staff on maternity leave, with 88 more on long-term sickness leave – resulting in a total staffing gap of 1,053.
She said:
Ms Kearney added that it is unsafe for CUH to enter the busy winter period with the current level of staffing.
In a letter first reported by RTÉ radio, she requested the approval of a minimum of 172 priority posts, the escalation of the situation to the HSE executive team, and a respite from employment restrictions.
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CUH had to “repeatedly re-prioritise” posts, she said, but at a meeting on May 7, hospital management was “asked to significantly reduce its list of approximately 120 prioritised posts, with the rationale that the number would ‘not look good nationally’," the chief executive said.
She said that on August 17, she was asked again to prioritise posts, including those already awaiting approval, with an expectation to prioritise only four or five posts.
“We should not wait for a patient safety incident to demonstrate that the current position is unsafe,” she said, adding that paediatric neurology, radiology, geriatric medicine, endocrinology and the St Finbarr’s rehabilitation unit among the areas most affected.
She concluded: “My responsibility as chief executive is not simply to comply with a process. It is to speak clearly when I believe that process is creating a foreseeable risk to patients and staff. I would rather raise that concern now, when there is still an opportunity to act, than remain silent and explain afterwards why we did not.”
Liam Conway, assistant director of industrial relations at the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, said that the letter echoed the union’s concerns.
“The decision making is so far away from the frontline – it’s having a significant impact on patient care, and there’s a real concern that services will have to be curtailed.
“We don’t have enough staff to open the surgical hub, or to staff wards – there’s so much onus on trying to reduce costs, but at what cost to patient care?”
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said that 24 consultant posts in CUH are among those stalled, and that many consultants were offered and accepted the posts as far back as February, but they have not been provided with formal contracts due to an impasse at national HSE level, though some had agreed start dates that have now passed.
IHCA chief executive Jim Daly said it was “unacceptable that internal HSE administrative bottlenecks are overriding agreed and approved consultant appointments and forcing existing staff to try to maintain increasingly fragile services”.
He expressed concern that the reputational damage arising from this could deter healthcare staff abroad from returning to Ireland.
Sinn Féin's David Cullinane said that the request to reduce the list of priority posts was “absolutely scandalous”, as reducing the number of posts on a list does not reduce the number of patients who need care.
A HSE South West spokesperson said that they are working to implement new approval processes and to progress recruitment.
However, they added: “As of the end of last month, CUH was operating at 258.67 WTE staff above its approved workforce limit.
“CUH has continued to increase its workforce during the most recent reporting period. In contrast, other service areas have experienced workforce reductions while continuing to manage significant service pressures and associated risks.”
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