Salary scales: There are now more than 100 senior health service managers receiving salaries of around €100,000 per year or more, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed.
Senior Government sources said the number of senior managers at the equivalent of assistant secretary levels in the Civil Service had increased since the abolition of the health board system and the introduction of the centralised HSE.
Informed sources said the increased number of senior health service managers came as a result of a deal reached between the then interim-HSE management and the trade union Impact in late 2004 which averted industrial action and facilitated the restructuring programme.
Sources said that under the former structure there would have been a small group in each of the 11 health boards receiving salaries in excess of €100,000. In addition, there would have been several more people at this level within the former Eastern Regional Health Authority.
Under the deal with Impact, managers in the old health board system who did not receive top- level positions in the new organisation maintained their existing conditions. Staff appointed to senior posts for the first time also received the higher pay scales - leading to an increase in the numbers of top-level salaries.
Salary scales for some senior health service management also rose as a result of the 7 per cent increase awarded by the Review Body on Remuneration in the Public Service last year.
The Review Body is also conducting a new examination of top-level pay in the public service to be concluded next year.
A HSE spokesman confirmed this week that there were now around 100 top managers in the HSE receiving salaries of €100,000 or more.
However, the spokesman said there had not been a significant increase in the number of senior managers.
The HSE was unable to provide comparisons of the number of similar top-level posts in the former health board structure.
The HSE spokesman also said that, since the start of the year, a new rigid employment scheme had been put in place to clamp down on increases in new senior administrative positions. HSE sources said this meant that a senior administrative position had to be extinguished before a new one could be created.
It is understood the Department of Finance is aware of the increase in the number of senior managers in the health service.
Informed sources said the department was anxious that performance management targets for top-level staff in the health service were reached for the year.
The most recent figures provided to the HSE board in April show there were 16,825 staff categorised as holding management/administrative positions.
However, a significant number of these, such as medical secretaries or staff involved in arranging procedures, would have direct day-to-day involvement with patients. There are 35,400 nursing staff and 7,248 medical or dental personnel, according to the HSE figures.
Meanwhile, discussions are continuing between the HSE, the Department of Health and the Department of Finance on the overall numbers to be employed in the public health services.
