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Irish Times
13 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Times
HSE aims to bring in new weekend work rosters for healthcare staff over summer
The HSE hopes to introduce new rostering arrangements over the summer that could require many healthcare staff to work at weekends for the first time, its chief executive has said. Bernard Gloster said final management proposals for the introduction of rostering staff to work any five days in a week – known as 5/7 day working – was currently with trade unions. In one of the biggest policy changes in years, the HSE has indicated it wants up to 10 per cent of the workforce to be available for rostered weekend work. Under the reforms, the HSE is seeking more staff on duty at weekends to: facilitate discharges of patients; boost the numbers providing care in emergency departments; increase the capacity in delivering diagnostics; and establish new outpatient clinics on Saturdays in hospitals and or community primary care centres. READ MORE It said that 'for Sunday, it is patient flow that is the priority. Between Saturday and Sunday, we discharge about 11-14 per cent of overall discharges for the week. We are aiming to get this to between 17-20 per cent.' HSE proposals given to trade unions said where a need for an extended service was identified, initially staff would be sought to work weekends on a voluntary basis. It said if there were not enough volunteers, 'eligible staff would be identified to resource the extended hours of service'. The HSE maintained that all staff employed or promoted on or after December 16th, 2008, would be contractually obliged to be rostered for weekend working. It said the requirement to match working patterns to service needs was set out in a HSE circular going back to 2009, as well as in successive public service pay agreements. [ Opinion: Nobody wants to stay in hospital longer than necessary. There's a better way to handle patient discharge Opens in new window ] The HSE told The Irish Times there was now 'a critical mass' of consultants in hospitals operating under the new public patient-only contract, which provides for senior doctors to work on Saturdays and later in the evening on weekdays. It said it needed other health professionals to work outside the traditional Monday-Friday working week. It also needs staff – some administrative, some nursing/allied health professionals – to be rostered on five out of seven days. 'Engagements have taken place with health unions and a final HSE proposal is in the last stage of feedback from the unions. Once cleared, there will be a mechanism for each [HSE] region to move to a roster in this new format. The initial rosters to be implemented will be in two categories of work: (a) Supporting services which have a direct benefit on patient flow such as emergency department avoidance, emergency department care and in hospital care such as diagnostics and discharge. (b) Supporting the establishment of a minimum number of outpatient clinics on Saturday in hospital and or community primary care centres as a means of big reform.' [ Just how unsafe are emergency departments in Irish hospitals? Opens in new window ] Mr Gloster said in a statement: 'We are determined to make this change which will be the basis for radical reform in access to care and patient flow and we hope to see the first fixed rosters in place over the summer. The prioritisation of this by Minister [for Health] Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is significant.' Minutes of the meeting in April of the Health Budget Oversight Group, which looks at spending in the health sector, said: 'Both HSE and Department of Health noted that they are examining the option of making changes to consultant rosters to ensure a more even distribution of consultants over seven days.' Mr Gloster said: 'We know consultants work hard, we know many are in at weekends for different things, we know the service is emergency/on call at weekends as opposed to core service. It is the move to core that is central to our plans on rosters. We have all the tools now, we have 25 per cent more staff, we need to utilise it to the maximum in the public interest.'
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
HSE may focus on rostering staff on Saturdays initially as part of new reforms
Health service staff may initially be sought to work on Saturdays as part of plans by HSE management to introduce new patterns of working over an extended day and week. The HSE has also indicated in a position paper given to trade unions that it may look for personnel to opt for weekend working on a voluntary basis. However, it said if there were insufficient volunteers, 'a rota of eligible staff will be drawn up by local management to resource the required extended hours of service'. The HSE maintained that all staff employed or promoted on or after December 16th, 2008 would be contractually obliged to be rostered for weekend working. READ MORE It said personnel employed or promoted before December 16th, 2008 and not subsequently promoted 'will be requested to work an extended day/week on a voluntary basis'. In one of the biggest policy changes in the health system in years, the HSE wants up to 10 per cent of the workforce to be available for rostered weekend work. HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster said in April that the organisation wanted to begin rostering more staff to work over weekends from the end of June. In a position paper on the plan sent to trade unions in recent days, the HSE said 'the overarching aim of this extended hours of patient/client service initiative is to facilitate a smoother patient flow and access in all aspects of the healthcare system over a full seven-day week'. It said the Government had committed to: • Continuing the transition to regular hospital care being available to patients seven days a week • Ensuring greater access to diagnostics in the evenings and weekends • Ensuring even more routine healthcare services are available in the evenings and weekends • Ensuring more senior staff are rostered in emergency departments during weekends and public holidays • Standardising the opening hours of injury units to ensure a consistent seven-day service from 8am to 8pm and open at least an additional 12 such facilities • Ensuring greater use of diagnostic equipment and operating theatres at evenings and weekends. The HSE set out principles to guide staff engagement for this first phase of this initiative. It said staff who had previously worked on a Monday to Friday 9-5 basis were 'being requested to deliver a different working pattern over a six- or seven-day week, to meet the requirements for services over an extended day/week'. 'The initial priority focus may be for example on extending service provisions for Saturday/five over six (day) working. However, the same principles will apply depending on the proposed plan for the extension of services outside current working patterns for staff: For example: to five/seven up to and including evenings and extended days/shift patterns. ' The HSE said delivery of extended hours of service would vary from site to site 'as it is dependent on the level of service need, the delivery approach and existing work patterns/arrangements'. 'To deliver quick and effective response over extended hours, staff will be requested, in the first instance, to participate in rostered extended hours of service delivery. It is noted that the flexibility associated with extended work patterns will suit many staff from a personal work-life balance perspective.' 'In the event that not enough staff volunteer, a rota of eligible staff will be drawn up by local management to resource the required extended hours of service. '
Irish Times
08-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Health service talks on weekend work for more than 10,000 staff deferred
Talks on plans to introduce scheduled weekend working for potentially more than 10,000 health service staff have been deferred after unions claimed the date clashed with annual conferences. In one of the biggest policy changes in the health system in years, the HSE wants up to ten per cent of the workforce to be available for rostered weekend work. HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster said last month that the organisation wanted to begin rostering more staff to work over weekends from the end of June. Mr Gloster told reporters at the recent conference of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) that the HSE was ready to present proposals on the changes to trade unions and there would be an intensification of engagement over the coming weeks. READ MORE However, he said he wanted to be clear that the HSE was moving in the direction of more weekend rostering and he had set a target of the end of June 'to see visible evidence'. The HSE had proposed talks on the changes should commence on Thursday, but unions pointed out that it clashed with annual conferences, such as that of nurses and midwives in Wexford. The talks are expected to be rescheduled for another date. When the HSE initially proposed the new work practice changes in February, the trade union Fórsa described the move as an 'aggressive approach' and said that the health service must engage with staff through a previously agreed framework. The union said it had consistently expressed its willingness to engage with management on the topic but no proposals had been forthcoming at either the local or national level. In a memo to his senior managers in February, Mr Gloster said an extended working day, running between 8am-8pm and an extended working week, five days over seven days, could be applied to all staff employed or promoted since December 2008. [ Government and HSE appear to hate doctors, new head of the IMO says Opens in new window ] Speaking at the IMO conference in April, Mr Gloster said he wanted up to 10 per cent of the entire workforce 'to be rostered in a fair and respectful way at weekends to start to improve the level of routine operation of the health services' outside of the Monday-to-Friday period. 'So what I am talking about is the totality of the healthcare workforce being better distributed across the seven days of the week. My plan is, by the end of June, to arrive at a point where we will start to see the implementation of a stabilised roster across every weekend.' He said the health service workforce had grown by 25 per cent over the last five years and there was 'no evidence to say that we've got the best use out of everything by having it all condensed between Monday and Friday, and then be dependent on an on-call, valuable, system at the weekend'. He said there was absolutely no reason why, for example, a rostered consultant on a public-only contract could not work in a hospital facility on a Saturday, doing routine and normal work as opposed to being on-call, and have an out-patient clinic supported by a clerical officer, nurse and an allied health professional, with access to diagnostics. 'And there is no reason why people leaving hospital can't have access to community supports at the weekend,' he said.
