The end of the HSE’s recruitment freeze is “very good news” for Ireland’s struggling hospitals, the organisation’s former Director General has said.

The freeze was introduced last year amid concern in Government over the ballooning cost of spending on the health service.

It applied to all staff other than consultants, doctors in training and 2023 graduate nurses and midwives.

At the time, concern was raised by Sinn Féin that it would put “real pressures on hospitals” and would force staff to make “very tough decisions”.

The HSE has since secured extra funding, which former Director General Tony O’Brien said would make the current CEO Bernard Gloster “very happy”. 

“What it does mean is that at long last the Government has addressed the problem that it created when Budget day last year revealed a health budget with a €1.5 billion hole in it,” he told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“Inevitably, it meant the HSE didn’t have the funds it needed to provide the full range of services and to employ staff it otherwise would.

“So, the fact that that’s now been fixed and that that €1.5 billion has gone into the base - which means it recurs year on year - is really good for everyone who depends on healthcare.” 

Male eye doctor examining patient with medical equipment. 23 March 2010. Alamy.com

Mr O’Brien said that, as Ireland’s population continues to age and increase, the demand for healthcare increases as well.

If staff levels do not increase with demand, the quality of care drops.  

“Of course, healthcare is provided by people for people," he said. 

"And if you don’t have staff… to operate clinics and so on - because it’s not just nurses and doctors who are required - then that inevitably means that the health service cannot be as efficient as it otherwise would be.”

An operation taking place.

Mr O’Brien admitted the HSE often overspends its budget but said a recruitment freeze was not an appropriate solution. 

“What I will say is if you expect an effective way of managing a service is to deliberately underfund it by €1.5 billion, then you’re definitely barking up the wrong tree,” he said. 

“No one in any other walk of life, in any commercial organisation would regard that as an effective way [of running it].” 

A report published in 2022 predicted Ireland will need to hire an additional 15,500 healthcare workers by 2035.

Main image: A hospital worker wheels a patient on a trolley through a ward after an NHS operation. 5 May 2016. Alamy.com