Latest news with #AshleyConnolly
Irish Times
15-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Staffing still an issue in key areas of HSE intended to benefit from seven day rostering
Staff shortages persist in the key service areas intended to be impacted by the HSE 's move to five over seven day rostering despite increased overall numbers, a health sector union conference has been told. Ashley Connolly of Fórsa said an 'arbitrary' application of current resources would not be enough to allow a transition to the provision of more services over seven days across the HSE but unions are 'willing' and 'waiting' to talk to management about how any new system will work. She was reacting to a message from Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to Fórsa's health and welfare conference in Letterkenny in which the Minister for Health said she still intends the proposed changes will come into effect by the end of June. 'Working over seven days will help reduce our trolley numbers, reduce the time patients spend in hospital, speed up access to care and provide access to services in communities, not just in acute settings,' said Ms Carroll MacNeill. READ MORE She said she was aware that talks between management and unions are planned in relation to the move in the coming weeks and said she looked forward to engaging with Fórsa and other staff representatives herself. However, she suggested that the aim of having the changes implemented by the end of next month still stood. [ Staff shortages and public perception leading to healthcare worker burnout, Fórsa research suggests Opens in new window ] 'The Government vision for health is to provide a seven-day, very balanced public service to the public, regardless of the day of the week that they get sick,' said the Minister. She said the HSE was planning for the delivery of all services 'relevant to improving patient flow in emergency departments and outpatient services over seven days'. Responding, Ms Connolly said the union had heard similar talks about the move to five over seven day rostering at its last health and welfare conference in Galway two years ago. 'Our message then was to affirm our willingness to engage in the discussion, and we expressed our readiness to discuss ideas. But nothing happened. No proposals were tabled, no ideas exchanged. Time passed, and we are still ready to talk, and to exchange ideas on how to action this ambitious plan for health service delivery, within the scope of existing resources,' she said. 'We also need to be clear eyed about the implications for managing the HSE's human resources. Employment has increased, but we continue to be concerned about employment gaps in areas that will be key to the delivery of seven-day services.' Speaking at the Irish Medical Organisation conference last month, HSE CEO Bernard Gloster said the health service workforce had grown by 25 per cent over the past 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 at that time the intention was to introduce the rostering changes involved by the end of June but talks with the unions on the issue were subsequently deferred because the original time clashed with some of their conferences.
Irish Independent
01-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Independent
Fórsa members in health service back deal to halt industrial action over staffing row
Fórsa members voted to approve proposals to resolve the dispute over the HSE's Pay and Numbers strategy. It comes after members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation accepted the proposals. The proposals to end the dispute that involved more than 80,000 health services workers were brokered at Workplace Relations Commission talks. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Fórsa, Connect, Unite, and the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association agreed to suspend a work-to-rule action that was due to begin on March 31. Fórsa said the proposals address the 'non-filing and delayed filling of vacant and suppressed health posts'. It said the Pay and Numbers strategy imposed a fixed employment ceiling across all health services. Ashley Connolly, the union's head of Health and Welfare, said it has called on the HSE to ensure the terms of the WRC agreement are fully implemented. 'This ballot result should mark a reset of how the parties engage - in line with the spirit of the agreement - to ensure we do not find ourselves back in dispute again,' she said. Linda Kelly, Fórsa national secretary, said the agreement will be subject to a review in six months' time. 'Until then we will be closely monitoring its progress, and we will be seeking full adherence to the commitments set out in the WRC proposals,' she said. INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said members of the union had accepted proposals regarding the non-filling and delayed filling of vacant and suppressed posts in the public health service. ADVERTISEMENT 'These proposals should pave the way for accelerating the filling of vacancies, stronger engagement between unions and the HSE, timely replacement of maternity leave, regularisation of agency posts and permanent posts for graduates,' she said. She said there is a strong onus on the HSE to adhere to the agreement. 'Now that this ballot has been accepted by our members, we will immediately write to the HSE to begin the implementation of the measures included in the agreement,' she said. A spokesperson for the HSE previously said the threatened industrial action would be a breach of industrial peace provisions in the public service pay agreement. Official data showed there have been hikes of between 30pc and 40pc in workforce numbers at most hospitals and across all categories of staff over the last five years.
Irish Times
01-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Section 39 workers accept pay proposal, paving way for end to years-long dispute
A pay proposal intended to end the long-running dispute involving as claim by tens of thousands of health and social care workers employed by voluntary organisations across the State has been accepted by members of the unions involved. The deal, worth 9.25 per cent over two years, starting last October, was backed by 87 per cent of Siptu members and 86 per cent of those in Fórsa . The result of a ballot by a smaller number of workers attached to the the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation was not finalised on Thursday afternoon but they too were expected to accept the terms on offer. [ 'I could be beside someone doing the same work for more money.' The plight of section 39 workers Opens in new window ] Under the agreement, the care workers, administrators and therapists, many employed by well-known organisations such as the Irish Wheelchair Association, Rehab and Enable Ireland paid to provide services on behalf of the Health Service Executive and a number of government departments, will receive a pay increase of 2.25 per cent backdated to October along with 1 per cent from the start of last month. Further increases of 2 per cent in November of this year as well April 1st and October 1st of 2026 will follow. READ MORE The two main unions involved said they would work with funding departments and employers to ensure the increases are implemented as quickly as possible. 'While the terms acknowledge that pay for some in the sector has fallen behind public-sector levels and allows for future increases in public pay agreements to be applied to the community and voluntary sector, we need to see the funding bodies move quickly to ensure our members receive these pay improvements as they fall due,' said Fórsa's head of health and welfare, Ashley Connolly. The staff involved working in the health sector are often referred to as Section 39 workers, a reference to the piece of legislation under which the HSE pays the organisations involved for the provisions of services. Other workers covered by the deal are employed in areas such as housing and family services. Their dispute briefly attracted a lot of attention during the general election campaign after an encounter between Simon Harris and S39 worker Charlotte Fallon.
