THE BOARD of the Health Service Executive (HSE) says it will have to consider controversial proposals put forward by management including the removal of staff from the payroll if there is no early resolution to the industrial action over pay cuts which has been under way for some weeks.
In a statement last night the HSE board said that it was “extremely concerned about the serious risks” that were arising as a result of the industrial action.
It said that it welcomed talks that are to take place at the Labour Relations Commission tomorrow and would monitor the situation closely over the coming days.
The board of the HSE held a special meeting on Friday to consider a report drawn up by management on the effects of the industrial action.
The board said that some HSE administrative employees were refusing to collate or provide financial data. It said that the administrative staff concerned remained on full pay “despite not carrying out these duties”.
“As a result of their industrial action, no detailed financial data or service performance reports are being provided and the HSE has a lack of reliable information on its overall position in relation to the €14 billion funds for which it is accountable.
“The board was advised that should this situation continue, it is very likely that the HSE will face a financial deficit later in the year, significantly raising the potential for an adverse effect on patient services,” it stated.
The board of the HSE said that it was extremely concerned about the serious risks arising from this situation.
It said that the trade union Impact had refused a request from the HSE for a derogation to allow for “the collation and provision of this critical data”.
“In the light of this, a number of actions were considered at the meeting which, in the absence of an early resolution to the situation, will have to be pursued,” it said.
The report drawn up by HSE management and given to the board last Friday states that the Impact industrial action is preventing the collection and transmission of mission-critical financial performance and activity data.
It says the HSE has “no adequate visibility” on whether its service plan – its agreement with the Government on how its €14 billion budget is spent – is being implemented and has no knowledge on whether its €400 million cost-containment targets are being achieved.
“The HSE is effectively issuing funding without sufficient information on what services are being provided in return and is therefore uncertain if it will have enough funding to meet its service commitments for the rest of the year,” it states.
The document, which is marked confidential, confirms the report in The Irish Times on Friday that HSE management are considering proposals to remove staff involved in the industrial action from the payroll.
Among the recommendations put forward by HSE management is that a “human resources process” be initiated to deal with staff involved in the ban on collecting and providing the data, which is part of their core duties.
The management report warns that unions have already indicated that there will be a full escalation of the industrial action if staff faced disciplinary action. “This will cause a severe disruption to essential services and possible all-out strike action which will limit the HSE to the provision of emergency cover only,” the report states.