Staff sick days cost the HSE €140m a year
HEALTH chiefs are shelling out over €140m to hire replacements to cover absent members of staff.
New figures reveal that the level of absenteeism in hospitals is running at over twice the rate as that in the private sector. The figures for last year show that the HSE paid out €142m to cover sick leave.
An internal review of 23 hospitals found absentee rates reaching 8pc. The average figure for the private sector is just 3.4pc. But a closer look at the findings reveals that more than 10pc of nurses and general support staff are missing from certain hospitals at any one time.
They also show that the overall level of absenteeism at the three best-performing hospitals averaged 4.7pc in April.
The average figure for the best three teaching hospitals, referred to as the group A hospitals, was as low as 4.4pc. The best three group B hospitals had average rates of 4.9pc.
The study found that absenteeism rates at the group A units was highest (8.4pc) among general support staff, while the figure for managers and administrative workers was 5.4pc.
TARGET
Now, the HSE has set a target of a 10pc reduction in absenteeism levels among its 100,000 strong workforce for 2008.
The new Healthstat system, measuring individual hospitals on a monthly basis, was introduced last January. In June, measurement began on the 32 local health offices of the Primary and Community Care Services.
The system groups hospitals into three performance categories. One target is to ensure hospitals in the red -- or poor -- category improve.
The highest levels of absenteeism are in nursing and in non-clinical areas like catering, portering, care assistants and cleaning. These categories have been targeted for urgent improvement.
The figures were released to the Irish Medical Times.
In June, the chief executive of the HSE launched a blistering attack on absenteeism, blaming staff taking too much sick leave for the shortage of some front-line health workers.
Professor Brendan Drumm said absenteeism was a "huge issue" for the HSE with rates of absence "significantly out of line with any place else in the public or private sector".
- Cormac Murphy
