The HSE has issued a tender worth an annual value of €138 million seeking employment agencies to provide nurses and midwives for temporary assignments across the health service in 2026.
A panel of agencies will be established to help supply staff across the HSE, section 38 organisations or voluntary facilities, and TUSLA, among other sectors.
The maximum duration of assignments is expected to be about six months, the HSE stated in tender documents.
The €138 million cost is per annum. The contract will span five years at a total cost of €690 million and may be extended for a further two years, according to the HSE.
In 2024, the HSE spent €397.7 million on hiring agency workers across the HSE and section 38 organisations.
However, across all HSE settings, including secondary and primary care and other services, the HSE spent €725 million on agency staff.
Between 2021 and 2024, the amount spent on hiring agency staff rose by 50 per cent.
According to the HSE Performance Report for September 2025, agency spending across the HSE’s acute hospital division was almost €315 million. This compares to €284 million for the same period in 2024.
Overall agency costs were €714 million for the first nine months of 2025, according to the report. This compares to a spend of €637 million for the same period in 2024, representing a rise of 12 per cent in agency spending overall.
A breakdown of agency staff spending to the end of September 2025 showed that €215 million was spent on “care assistants, porters etc”, while €176 million was spent on nursing staff.
More than €144 million was spent on medical/dental agency staffing. Over €120 million went towards “central support” and allied health professional agency spending totalled over €57 million.
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