MOST OF the 147 health professionals who are on paid leave from the HSE for more than six months are nurses, it has emerged.
Some 102 nurses are on paid leave from the HSE for more than six months while 35 health and social care professionals such as social workers are on paid leave for the same extended period of time, as well as nine doctors and dentists, and one manager/administrator.
The figures, released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, follow the disclosure last October that 147 health professionals working for the HSE were being paid for doing nothing for months or even years. A reply to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael’s health spokesman, Dr James Reilly, showed one of the 147, on leave from the HSE since April 2003, had been paid €1.3 million since then and was still on the pay roll.
The HSE said some of those on paid leave for long periods were on leave pending the outcome of internal investigations under HSE disciplinary procedures or policies such as Trust in Care and Dignity at Work – programmes which deal with instances of allegations against staff. But it would not release details of the staff grades held by individuals on such leave, saying this information was “so specific that it would be possible to identify individuals in some cases”.
The total bill to date for the 147 staff on paid leave from the HSE comes to more than €11 million.