Health | Countering the difficulties of obtaining and retaining professional staff throughout the health services

Question

To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which he can take steps to counter the difficulties of obtaining and retaining professional staff throughout the health services; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Reply

The HSE experiences difficulties in obtaining and retaining Healthcare staff throughout the health services. The HSE operates in an intensely competitive global landscape with worldwide shortages of healthcare workers, full employment market and an increasingly mobile workforce. The task of resourcing our health service is further compounded by insufficient domestic supply to build the talent pipeline, coupled with existing deficits across a number of professions and specialties. This is all against a backdrop of and ageing and growing population with increasing and more complex care needs. Together with changing workforce expectations and a growing desire for greater flexibility, opportunities for development, and work-life balance from an employer.
To address the significant challenges being faced, both now and into the future, the HSE launched its Resourcing Strategy in June 2023.

Click to access hse-resourcing-strategy.pdf

This is an action orientated strategy which has been developed by and with the services. This strategy outlines a comprehensive set of actions aimed at meeting the current and future needs of the organisation. Since the launch the strategy significant work has commenced to build the future pipelines. In the current academic year over 800 additional training places have been introduced, together with the broadening of career pathways into education in healthcare and the implementation of an apprenticeship programme which helps to build a sustainable workforce and also increase diversity. Significant work has been developed in profiling the HSE as an employer of choice both nationally and internationally, anchored in a newly developed career platform

https://careerhub.hse.ie/

There has also been significant international marketing particularly for the attraction of Medical consultants and Nursing. There has been substantial focus in retaining Irish graduates both in Nursing, Midwifery and HSCPs, with the offer of
permanent employment for all graduates successful at Interview. This has been supported by significant engagement across universities both in Ireland and the UK. International recruitment has continued to be a significant feature of workforce building in 2023, with over 2000 highly skilled nurses joining the Irish health services
across both Hospital and community settings. Building self-sufficiency within the Irish state remains the focus of the HSE to ensure that we have a sufficient workforce to meet the future needs.