Wexford TD George Lawlor Questions HSE Reliance on Agencies After €450m Spend Revealed

The HSE has spent almost €450 million on agency nurses and healthcare assistants over the past three years, according to figures obtained through a parliamentary question by Labour TD George Lawlor.

Deputy Lawlor said the level of expenditure raises serious concerns about the health service's reliance on private recruitment agencies and questioned whether taxpayers are receiving value for money from the current system.

The Wexford TD revealed that the HSE paid "just shy of €450 million" to private agencies supplying agency nurses and healthcare assistants nationwide during the three-year period.

Speaking on the issue, Deputy Lawlor said he sought the figures after raising questions about the amount of money being paid to private agencies compared to frontline healthcare workers.

"I've been putting down questions in relation to what the HSE is actually paying out to private agencies," he said. "I put down a parliamentary question asking how much the HSE has paid nationally to agencies for healthcare assistants and nurses."

Lawlor claimed he has information suggesting agencies may be retaining a significant share of the funding.

"I've discovered that the HSE have paid out in the past three years just shy of €450 million to private agencies, of which I suspect the agencies are in receipt, in terms of profit, of about €250 million of that," he said.

While acknowledging the role agency staff play in maintaining healthcare services and filling staffing gaps, the Labour TD argued that the HSE must prioritise the recruitment and retention of permanent staff.

"There is a need for agencies, but not to dominate the healthcare system," he said. "We need to be employing full-time, permanent and pensionable staff, to hold on to them and to make sure that they remain within the HSE."

Lawlor said some healthcare workers prefer agency work and that option should remain available, but he believes the wider focus should be on building a stable workforce within the public health service.

"If we're going to be paying, we have to look at the bigger picture in terms of what's good for the vast majority of people in Ireland and what's good for the health service," he said.

"To pay just shy of €450 million in three years to private agencies, just in two areas of the health service, is ludicrous in the context of not employing people full-time."

The figures are likely to fuel ongoing debate around staffing shortages, recruitment challenges and the HSE's dependence on agency workers as healthcare services continue to face significant workforce pressures across the country.