HSE recruitment freeze to end after €1.5bn in increased funding

The Health Service Executive’s director general has confirmed that a recruitment freeze introduced in October last year will be lifted from this Monday.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio on Sunday, Bernard Gloster said: Decision It follows last week’s announcement that the government had allocated an additional €1.5 billion for this purpose.

This Health and Safety It will also receive an additional €1.2 billion in 2025 to cover the costs of current service levels.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme, Mr Gloster said the funding announced last week was “fixed money” that would be used “across the health service base”.

He added that before the announcement he was concerned about 4,000 positions in the organisation that were “basically unfunded” but are now “funded and secured”.

He added that the HSE had reached an agreement with Health Minister Stephen Donnelly on the use of an additional €1.5 billion in funding received.

The recruitment freeze introduced in October last year was extended in November to cover all staff categories except consultants, trainee doctors and nurses and midwives born in 2023.

Mr Gloster said recruitment limits and controls for health regions across the country had been set and could not be breached.

Under the new system, a limited number of senior managers were given the authority to approve appointments.

Following the lifting of the freeze, the HSE’s recruitment cap was just over 125,000 full-time equivalent staff.