Taxpayers getting shafted once again
The Irish Times – Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Q&A
MARTIN WALL
Who will benefit from the early retirement/voluntary redundancy schemes?
The schemes will be primarily aimed at staff in managerial/administrative and clerical grades in the HSE, voluntary hospitals and in voluntary health service agencies funded by the HSE. They will also be offered to support staff, such as catering, portering, cleaning and maintenance personnel. Approval for applications from these grades will depend on the number of management and administrative staff who apply and on the basis of the overall budget for the scheme not being breached.
How many people will leave?
This will very much depend on the categories of staff who opt for the packages. The Government has capped the budget for the schemes at €400 million and if a large number of senior managers choose to go, it will restrict the overall numbers.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said about 4,000 managerial and administrative staff could leave. The HSE said it was estimating that between 3,000 and 5,000 personnel could go.
How do the two schemes differ?
There is a voluntary early retirement scheme, which is open to employees over 50. This provides for immediate payment of pension entitlements on retirement with no actuarial reduction in respect of payment prior to minimum retirement age. Full lump-sum entitlement will also be paid and payments will not take into account the salary cuts introduced in the public service earlier this year.
The voluntary redundancy scheme will involve a severance payment of three weeks’ pay per year of service in addition to statutory entitlements, subject to an overall limit of two years’ pay. This could see some senior managers getting €300,000.
Is there a deadline for applying?
Applications will have to be submitted by November 19th. Staff who take a package must leave the health service by December 30th.
Will all applications be accepted?
Applications from managerial/ administrative staff will be prioritized and will be approved automatically, subject to the overall €400 million budget not being breached.
How will services be maintained?
Management plans to use the provisions of the Croke Park agreement to redeploy staff or introduce more flexible work practices. Much will depend on the type of staff who actually leave. It may be easier to maintain services in administrative areas than if a large number of porters or catering staff, for example, from one organization took the packages.
Why are these packages on offer now?
Since the establishment of the HSE in 2005 there have been questions raised as to why there was no rationalization of administrative and managerial staff given that 11 health boards were being amalgamated. On at least two occasions in recent years the HSE and the Department of Health drew up proposals for a voluntary redundancy scheme but these were rejected by the Department of Finance.
source http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1102/1224282482579.html
Comment:
Having signed the Croke Park deal the government now have realized it was a disaster for the taxpayers of the country with 70% of the Health Services Budget going on salaries, this commitment should never have happened because the country could not afford to shelter any group of state employees if it was going to make any real savings
So Not only is the HSE now closing down services and hospital beds they have now found 450,000,000:00 Euros to allow these middle management to retire laden down with these bumper benefits
Earlier this year we were told citizens will have to work an extra 3 years for the state pension (68)
With this deal thousands of state workers get to have their state pension up to 18 years earlier and this when the country is broke?
We the taxpayers were told back in 2005 that the rationalization of administrative and managerial staff was one of the reasons for the establishment of the HSE in the First place, given that 11 health boards were being amalgamated.
Now the taxpayers are again getting a raw deal here and the ordinary Joe public is been shafted once again having to foot the bill again! If you thought things were bad in the Health Service think again we are about to feel real pain now thanks to Harney.
Harney your hands are stained with blood and you know the country hasn’t got this 450 million it has to be borrowed why don’t you go and take all your cronies with you?
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Andrew Doyle / Health
(Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Question 110: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her views on the findings of the National Economic and Social Forum report on the implementation of the home care package scheme which concludes that eligibility differs from area to area resulting in inequalities and inconsistencies for people in need of support and that there is much duplication of work, with double or triple assessment of the care needs of older people; the action she will take in relation to same; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Áine Brady
(Minister of State with special responsibility for Older People and Health Promotion, Department of Health and Children; Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 106, 110 and 135 together.
The priorities of the Department in recent times, in relation to Services for Older People, have been the introduction of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, and the bringing into force of new regulations in July last for the long-term residential care sector.
In tandem with these initiatives for the residential care sector, the Department has also been progressing initiatives on the community side and, as part of this, earlier this year commenced an independent Evaluation of Home Care Packages (HCPs). The HCP programme currently undertaken by the HSE involves overall annual funding in the region of €120 million, to provide packages to around 8,700 older people at any one time or approximately, 11,500 over the course of the year. Such packages are intended to enable older people to live at home and in their communities for as long as possible and to facilitate discharge from, or prevent inappropriate admission to, acute hospitals and long-term residential care. The HSE allocates and manages packages on this basis around the country.
The Department’s Evaluation , undertaken by PA Consulting Group, will be formally submitted to Minister, Deputy Harney shortly. The aim of the evaluation was to assess, through quantitative and qualitative research at HSE national and local level, whether the objectives of the HCP Initiative are being met in the best possible way. This evaluation was recommended by the long-term care working g roup, and reinforced by a “Towards 2016” commitment. The Department and the HSE has accepted the need for a more standardised approach to HCP provision generally. In the context of the forthcoming Report by PA Consulting Group, the Department is at present, in conjunction with the HSE, considering various issues in relation to HCP provision, including:
finalising and agreeing standardised access and operational guidelines for delivery of Home Care Packages;
adoption and dissemination by the HSE of a voluntary code of Quality Guidelines for Home Care Support Services for Older People; and
consideration of the Law Reform Commission recommendations in the context of possible changes to legislation and regulation in the area of home care for older persons generally.
I am familiar with the recently launched NESF Report which focused on the implementation of home care packages from a policy implementation point of view. It acknowledges that while the home care package initiative was a well designed policy, improvements are required in a number of areas regarding implementation, including the issues raised by the Deputies. These issues are also being addressed in the report commissioned by the Department.
It is intended that various recommendations of the PA report will be implemented or progressed over the course of 2010, including those relating to governance, operational delivery, performance management and funding.
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1, Andrew Doyle, Fine Gael, Health, Hospital Services, Wicklow TD's Dail comments, Wicklow Town
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