Minister for Health James Reilly has said it is impossible to gauge how much will be saved from the departure of staff from the Health Service Executive (HSE) until after the Government's pensions deadline passes.
The Minister was speaking after it was announced that annual payroll savings of just €57 million are expected to be realised from staff leaving the public health service at the end of this month.
Speaking at the launch of a new national electronic GP referral system in Dublin today, Mr Reilly stressed that a contingency plan was in place to cope with possible service gaps linked to the departure of staff.
The HSE anticipates more than 3,300 staff have either applied or expressed an interest in leaving the organisation before pension changes take effect at the end of February. These include about 500 personnel working in primary care services.
The Dáil Public Accounts Committee heard yesterday the HSE will make savings on average of only about 33 per cent on the salaries of each of its staff who leave before the February 29th deadline. Staff departing after this date will leave on inferior pension terms under the revised changes.
HSE chief executive Cathal Magee told the committee that when a staff member left, it lost out on their superannuation contribution as well as their health levy payment. He said the executive had to pay out the cost of the lump sum payment and pension from funds for the year, meaning that on average there was only about a saving of one-third, even if the person was not replaced.
Opposition TDs have questioned the actual level of savings which will be made through the several thousand retirements across the public service in the weeks ahead.
Dr Reilly said the Government was unsure exactly what savings would be realised until the expiry of its "grace period" had passed.
"I'm going to be absolutely honest and say there can be no certainly around this until the end of February because people can change their minds up to the last minute and indeed, even though we've asked people to give a month's notice, strictly speaking legally, they don't have too," he said.
"We may have more people applying to leave until the end of February and we may have many who have applied who will change their minds so we can't give certainty on this."
The Minister also stressed that a contingency plan was in place to deal with possible service delays after Mr Magee told the committee that there was no question gaps would emerge.
"There are contingency plans right across the country and they change as the facts... change," said Dr Reilly.
The Mental Health Reform group, a coalition of mental health interest groups, today called for contingency plans to be published.
"Mental health services are already stifled by the chronic shortages of staff. We are in the dark as to what will happen on March 1st. We need to see plans now on how the HSE will deal with these retirements to ensure that people with mental health conditions receive adequate services in the community," said the organisation's director Orla Barry.
