HSE ‘crack team’ to be deployed to hospitals with recurrent HR problems

A special five-person “early intervention team” will be deployed by the HSE to hospitals with recurring human resources (HR) problems such as under-payments to staff.

The team, which has expertise in psychology, HR, mediation, accountancy, and engagement, is due to visit its first site – University of Limerick (UL) Hospitals Group – because of issues regarding payments. This has been agreed with the healthcare unions and the Medical Independent (MI) understands the team’s terms of reference are with the HSE Leadership Team.

HSE National Director of HR Ms Rosarii Mannion referred to the new team at a forum held with NCHDs at the IMO AGM in Killarney.

Ms Mannion told MI the team will be deployed where there are “developing black spots” related to specific HR issues. She said the aim is to “genuinely put in supports on-the-ground and work with people in a collegiate and partnership way”.

Earlier, the forum heard that under-payments affecting emergency medicine NCHDs at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) were resolved for incoming doctors in January, following interventions by the IMO. However, SpR in emergency medicine at UHL, Dr Lisa Cunningham, informed Ms Mannion “we still have a huge cohort of people that have not been paid and have been promised to be paid, including myself – €5,500 in overtime in six months and that is one registrar”.

In her response, Ms Mannion said it was “extremely difficult to get positive change across the organisation” on a range of issues. She noted that hospitals’ finance, HR, medical manpower staff, etc, reported to their CEO and executive. HR staff in the hospital system had no reporting line to the National Director of HR.