A Donegal TD has claimed that medical staff recruited up to nine months ago have not been allowed to start work in the health service because of an ongoing embargo.
Independent TD Thomas Pringle said that in April the HSE had “to all intents and purposes” implemented a recruitment embargo that was supposed to end in mid-July but was still in place.
He said the Government continued to deny the embargo but had introduced “interim controls” and “meanwhile the HSE is spending millions on agency staff to cover the recruitment freeze”.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar denied an embargo was in place as he told the Dáil that there were 317 patients on trolleys on Tuesday afternoon after the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) released figures that there were 679 patients on trolleys in the morning, according to the Irish Times.
Mr Varadkar said that since September 2018 there had been an increase in staffing levels with 125 more consultants, 189 more registrars and 301 more clinical nurse managers along with 143 more nurses and midwife specialists and 1111 more staff nurses and midwives.
But Mr Varadkar insisted there had been more recruitments but added that “what is no longer permitted is HSE managers taking on staff if they do not have the budget to pay them”.
Mr Varadkar acknowledged to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald that there was still a severe overcrowding problem in Irish hospitals but he said the number of beds had been increasing every year since 2014 and was now back at pre-recession levels.
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