HSE faces major staff challenge - Drumm

HSE CEO Prof Brendan Drumm has said the filling of new posts for specific services such as cancer care is a major challenge for the health executive.

Prof Drumm admitted that the fact that the HSE was unlikely to meet its target of 1,600 in staff reductions, mostly through retirements, in 2010 represented a very big challenge.

The creation of posts exempted from the the recruitment freeze that would go to specific services is contingent on the HSE meeting its staff reduction target.

Prof Drumm said the take-up of early retirements by staff had been less than anticipated due to the fact that the Croke Park deal had extended by a year the period under which people could still retire with a tax-free lump sum.

This was leading to fewer retirements than expected this year.

Prof Drumm said because of this, areas such as disability services and cancer services would be challenged in terms of getting extra staff.

He said the HSE's €100 million plus deficit for the first four months of the year in the context of its total budget was a percentage the HSE believed it could work within.

He said where a deficit occurs, it had to be resolved within that particular area of the service, such as hospitals, pointing out that the HSE had a similar deficit at the same stage last year.

The HSE has had €1.2 billion cut from its allocation for 2010.

Referring to planned further bed closures, Prof Drumm said the HSE was moving to change a huge amount of its services from inpatient to day case treatment.

In addition, medical assessment units were being opened in hospitals, he said.

These units would stop many patients having to be admitted to inpatient beds for assessment of symptoms such as chest pain and headaches. Patients would be seen within 24 hours in these units as day patients and would not be admitted, Prof Drumm added.

He said with the Croke Park deal now ratified by ICTU, the HSE would be moving to implement work changes including redeployment of staff.

He said it was planned that this process would take months rather than years.

Prof Drumm said staff needed to be redeployed, otherwise you would have a service in one area undermanned and a service in another area overmanned.

This was the final annual report Prof Drumm will be presenting as CEO, as he is due to step down shortly.

He said he did not believe Ireland had ever seen change on the scale of the reforms being carried out by the HSE.

Prof Drumm said he would like to see an independent group review the progress made by the HSE since its inception in 2005.

He said while the HSE had got some things wrong, he believed any review would find that major progress had been made.

Prof Drumm admitted that "desperately sad" adverse incidents would occur and the effects of such incidents were horrendous on the families concerned.

He said while it was the HSE's job to fix those incidents when they occurred, the HSE could not be derailed from its change programme.

He said "bad news" would always get highlighted in the health service and this was an international issue.

The HSE's annual report for 2010 says the health executive last year delivered "substantially" on its service plan commitments. Service delivery was nearly 4% ahead of target and these extra services were provided within budget last year.

The report says more services were provided in 2009 with proportionately less funding.

Staff numbers were reduced by 2,047 below approved employment levels last year and savings of €115 had been achieved through operating and procurement efficiencies and cost containment measures.

The report says the numbers waiting over 12 months for inpatient care declined in 2010 and MRSA cases dropped.

It says 246 primary care teams are now in place and the plan is to have 500 in place by 2011.

The HSE says more than two million people can now avail of "one-stop shop" health and social care through these teams.

[Posted: Thu 17/06/2010]