EXCLUSIVE: Nearly €8 million spent by Louth hospitals on recruitment and agency staff in 2024

In a staggering revelation, figures released by the HSE through request by the Freedom of Information Act 2014 show that over €7,975,216 was spent by Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Louth County Hospital on the services of recruitment firms and agency staff last year, not including the month of December. 

The records released by the HSE list the amount spent by all hospital groups across the country on recruitment firms and agency staff. Although these costs are very high, Louth as a county was on the lower end when it came to the overall amount spent according to these records.

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital spent a total of €6,924,005. Of that total amount spent, €648,776 went towards nursing, €548,391 on paramedical services, €1,689,295 on support services, and €11,281 on maintenance and technical support. The highest proportion was allocated for medical and dental services, amounting to €4,026,262.

Louth County Hospital's total spend came in at €1,051,211. The majority of this money went towards support services, totalling €509,740. Medical and dental services cost €286,768, nursing €101,225, and paramedical services €153,478.

Mullingar General Hospital had the highest bill for recruitment firms and agency staff last year, totalling €23,762,844. The Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise came second with €19,776,670. Then came University Hospital Limerick with €18,616,681. The Midlands Regional Hospital Tullamore followed closely behind UHL at €18,344,880. 

The total cost across all hospital groups listed in the records amounted to over €276,165,412.

Although investment in public healthcare has never been higher, these figures convey a stark overreliance on agency staff within Irish hospitals. In response to a request for a comment on these numbers, a spokesperson for the Minister of Health 
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said: "The Minister for Health supports the ongoing efforts to control and reduce agency spend in the Health Service Executive (HSE).

"Following talks at the Workplace Relations Commission in March between health sector management and unions, a commitment was made by the HSE to reduce reliance on agency workers and to ensure that all vacancies are filled by direct recruitment in the first instance. The Minister welcomes this commitment."

Indeed, the HSE's 2025 National Service Plan has an allocated budget of €26.9 billion which is a €1.6 billion increase compared to the 2024 budget. However, healthcare within Ireland is still plagued with major issues and staffing is significant area of concern.

Speaking in January at the time of the publication of the National Service Plan, HSE CEO Bernard Gloster said the organisation's priority in 2025 "must be a relentless focus on productivity and changed ways of working". This included expanding the workforce. 

The plan specifically states: "Prioritise the training and development of our staff, including leadership and management skills, team and individual development. The HSE will select senior leaders to participate in executive leadership programmes aimed at addressing critical leadership challenges and developing longer term healthcare leadership capacity in the health sector."

However, many people working in healthcare would argue that the problem is that there is a top heavy administration staff and that there is too much emphasis placed on management rather than frontline staff. 

Even with so much money being spent on recruitment firms and agency staff to plug the gaps for the HSE, staffing numbers and dissatisfaction among healthcare workers is critically low. In March of this year, thousands of healthcare staff threatened industrial action due to staffing to such dismal numbers.

Unions cited recruitment restrictions and the suppression of vacant posts as factors in creating unsafe conditions for patients and staff. The work-to-rule action was eventually suspended to allow for a ballot.

However, the problems within the HSE's staffing have not disappeared. Fórsa published new research last month which showed that 68% of respondents described staff morale as either ‘low’ (43%) or ‘terrible’ (25%). The trade union commissioned the research by the independent think-tank TASC and surveyed 3,800 healthcare staff.

The study also reported that almost half of those surveyed (48%) said the situation had deteriorated with the last two years. Over 53% said low morale is negatively affecting the quality of care.

The survey demonstrates the impact staff shortages is having on healthcare workers. So, to what extent is the money being spent on recruitment firms and agency staff alleviating the pressure on the healthcare system? Or is it simply a costly short-term solution to plug the many gaps in the floundering system?

One former agency worker based in the Midlands agreed that they were indeed simply plugging gaps for the HSE. The former employee, who chose to remain anonymous, worked for an agency in an administrative capacity from April 2022 to November 2023.

During her time there, she said that training was not up to standard and that it was "limited and inconsistent." She added that from her experience, managers and trainers were often "lacking in knowledge" when it came to training staff. Because of this, people were forced to learn as they worked. 

She also expressed a major disconnection between agency staff and HSE workers and added that if any jobs arose within the HSE, agency staff would not have any advantage despite their experience. 

The former agency worker wholeheartedly agreed that there is an overreliance on agency workers within the HSE, sentiment which has long been echoed by healthcare workers across the country.