HSE spends €800,000 a day on agency staff instead of permanent employees

Ireland is spending more money on health than almost any other country in the world, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said, as it emerged the Health Service Executive (HSE) was spending a "scandalous" €300 million a year on agency staff.

Mr Varadkar said the HSE was set to exceed its budget yet again this year and had been spending more than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average for the past 20 years.

He said more fundamental reforms were needed because Ireland was spending more per head of population on health than most of the rest of the world, including during the recession.

Broader context

He acknowledged spending on agency staff was high but said it had to be seen in a broader context. It amounted to 2 per cent of the total budget or one in 25 of the total staff and that was similar to other sectors.

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Mr Varadkar was responding to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who described as “mind boggling” the dependence of some hospitals on agency staff.

A total of €105 million had been spent on hiring agency doctors and dentists and that figure had doubled since Fine Gael came into office in 2011. This was happening even though the Government pledged to recruit more permanent staff.