JUST DAYS after staff in the public health services began to ballot on industrial action in protest at recruitment restrictions introduced over recent months, new figures show that the numbers employed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) have fallen by more than 2,000 since last autumn.
Official figures given to the HSE board last month show that there were 2,061 fewer staff on the payroll at the end of January than when restrictions were first put in place in September.
The introduction of a recruitment "pause" was one of the main measures set out by the HSE in an effort to deal with a financial crisis, largely caused by overspending, which was heading towards €400 million.
The recruitment embargo, introduced without any consultation with trade unions or staff representatives, was officially ended last Christmas.
However, it was replaced in January by a new strict employment control process under which only critical frontline vacancies which arose before 2008 could be filled - and only if other posts which became vacant were suppressed.
For months, trade unions in the health sector have expressed strong concerns at the HSE's recruitment policies. The Labour Court has also criticised the HSE over how it introduced its cutbacks.
However, the scale of the reductions in employment in the health sector has only become apparent with the emergence of the first set of data for 2008 given to the board of the HSE last month.
For years, the Departments of Health and Finance have been concerned at the failure of the HSE, and health boards before it, to live within the official ceiling on staff employment.
Over recent years it was not uncommon to see the number of health service personnel running several thousands over the official level permitted by the Department of Finance.
Despite regular warnings from the Departments of Health and Finance, the problem persisted, with health agencies claiming that the official staffing ceiling was regularly overtaken by the need for additional personnel.
However, the scale of the fall-off in employment in the health sector over recent months is of a level not witnessed since the controversial cutbacks of the 1980s and early 1990s.
The report to the HSE board last month said that payroll numbers had fallen for five consecutive months to January.
"The reduction since December 2007 was 583 whole-time equivalents . The corresponding month last year showed a reduction of seven WTEs. The total reduction since August is 2,061.
"While some of this is due to seasonal factors, and, more recently, due to student nurse placements ceasing, the majority of the reductions have resulted from the recruitment pause put in place on the 4th of September and the tight employment control process in place from the start of 2008," the report stated.
The report said that the number of people employed in January was only 133 above the official limit, compared with a figure of 1,939 last summer.
The report stated that 325 jobs had gone in public hospitals between December and January, with 284 in the community sector over the same period.
The report said that 481 nursing posts were lost between December and January, 52 in the health and social care professional sector, and 39 in the medical/dental category.
The report said that at the end of January, there were 53,402 WTE staff in the hospital sector - 5.1 per cent above its official ceiling.
"Many hospitals returned reductions in January. Some exceptions include St Luke's Hospital Kilkenny, up nine WTEs; Wexford General Hospital, up six WTEs; Louth County Hospital up nine WTEs; Mater Hospital up 14 WTEs; and The National Maternity Hospital, up five WTEs.
"In the case of the latter hospital, it recorded an increase of 33 WTEs [ 4.5 per cent growth] since the end of August. The only other hospital which saw an increase of any significance during this period was Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, up 38 WTEs [ 2.28 per cent growth]," the report stated.
The board of the HSE was also told that there were 53,484 WTEs in the primary, community and continuing care sector at the end of January 2008, which was 4.3 per cent below its approved ceiling.
The HSE has argued that the reduction in payroll numbers over recent months is necessary to allow it to live within its official Exchequer allocation, which it has contended is more than €300 million less than it needs to maintain services at last year's levels.
However, staff anger at the recruitment restrictions put in place by the HSE has escalated in recent weeks and the trade union Impact has begun a ballot of its 28,000 members on industrial action.
The union told members in a leaflet yesterday that "bigger cuts in services and staffing" were likely to be imposed in the coming "months and years" unless it acted.
Among the forms of industrial action being considered by Impact are a refusal to undertake duties associated with vacant posts; a boycott of requests and directives from senior HSE corporate management; a refusal to deal with HSE advisers; a refusal to co-operate with the HSE transformation programme or related matters; withdrawal from partnership groups and processes; a work-to-rule; an overtime ban; work stoppages and other forms of action up to and including strike action.
