The HSE has started digitally collecting information on consultant rosters, which will be made available to Government departments, the Medical Independent (MI) understands.
A HSE spokesperson told MI the data will be aggregated, anonymised, filtered, and utilised “to support workforce and service planning initiatives”.
At the health budget oversight group meeting in April, the Executive confirmed that information on consultant rosters will be collected on a HSE database by extending functionality on the doctors integrated management e-system (DIME).
According to minutes, this “will be used to monitor progress over the coming months in changing the way consultants are being scheduled to work”.
At the meeting, the HSE committed to providing the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (formerly DPENDR) and the Department of Health (DoH) with regular access to the tool once it is fully developed.
The HSE spokesperson confirmed to MI that an additional module has been developed on DIME, which allows clinical sites to input individual work plans of consultants.
“Activities inputted are grouped by the system into broad categories for reporting purposes. The system allows for the input of work plans which may span a number of weeks in a cycle. In addition, the system can also capture on-call duties associated with the post and the frequency of these calls.”
The module went live in June and a user manual has been published. A series of training webinars have also been conducted.
The information has not yet been made available to the DoH and other departments.
It is anticipated that there will be sufficient data on the system to facilitate appropriate reporting in the near future, added the spokesperson.
“National reports provide high-level, anonymised summaries. These reports can then inform reporting to relevant parties, which may include, where appropriate, information such as the number of work practice plans in place on the system, aggregated data regarding scheduling of work over the extended working day, and planned weekend presence.”
In February, HSE CEO Mr Bernard Gloster asked the regional executive officers to change consultant rosters by the end of June to ensure that there are consultants regularly rostered on-site over the weekends and in the evenings.
The HSE announced in June that an agreement had been reached with health unions on extended rosters to provide services over seven days a week. The provisions of the HSE’s circular do not supersede the terms of the public-only consultant contract.
Speaking at the time, the Chair of the IMO consultant committee Prof Matthew Sadlier warned that weekend rostering alone would not solve the “trolley crisis” and long patient delays.
Earlier this month, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill welcomed significant improvements in emergency department performance over the August bank holiday weekend.
There were also 55 per cent fewer patients waiting on trolleys at 8am on Tuesday 5 August compared to the Tuesday after the St Brigid’s bank holiday weekend.
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