The new HSE ‘staffing ceiling’ could pose a health and safety risk to patients, the Irish Medical Organisation has warned.

Yesterday, the HSE officially lifted a nine-month-long recruitment 'freeze' and replaced it with a limit on the number of medical staff that can be hired.

The IMO's Dr Rachel McNamara said staff shortages could lead to burnout and inadequate patient care in hospitals at peak times.

“At the moment, we still have a huge number of gaps in rosters across the system,” she said. 

“But when you have gaps like that, you leave the staff that are in place having to do unsafe and illegal working hours. 

“This leaves them way too tired and burned out to adequately care for their patients. 

“It also leaves the system very vulnerable [in] winter and there’s an increased level of infections circulating.” 

A doctor with patients. Picture by: Phanie / Alamy Stock Photo

Dr McNamara said the HSE needs to reform its recruitment process if it wants to improve medics’ experience of the health service. 

“We know that… almost 80% of doctors are reporting that they’re working over 48 hours in a week consistently - which is illegal,” she said. 

“So, instead of a blunt instrument like a recruitment ceiling, what we need to see is targeted recruitment in those areas to make them safe and to make the working conditions sustainable.” 

The recruitment freeze was lifted following a new €1.5 billion funding settlement for the HSE.

Main image: A doctor. Image by: Alamy.com