A Laois TD has raised the recent reports of Portlaoise hospital agency spending with the Minister for Health.

Laois Independent Republican Brian Stanley TD has criticised the amount of money spent on recruitment services, and has questioned the margin between the growth of administration roles, and care staff.

In a staggering revelation, the Leinster Express / Laois Live recently reported that over €19,776,670 was spent by the Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise on the services of recruitment firms and agency staff last year, not including the month of December.

Pictured: Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise

The records released by the HSE through request by the Freedom of Information Act 2014 list the amount spent by all hospital groups across the country on recruitment firms and agency staff. Among all of the hospitals listed, Portlaoise was the second largest spender in this area.

Deputy Stanley addressed Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill.

"The issue of agency staff is in some ways an old chestnut, but it is one we have to deal with," Deputy Stanley said.

"When he took over, Bernard Gloster said he was committed to trying to pare that back, and I know that is easier said than done, but the over-reliance on agency staff is concerning, with €276 million spent in 2024. It is a lot of money spent on services, recruitment agencies, et cetera," he said.

"That €276 million was only for 11 months of last year. The HSE's records showed that this finance was spent on services such as administration, management, nursing, medical, dental, and paramedical services and supports, as well as maintenance and technical supports.

"In the Midland Regional Hospital, in Portlaoise, a relatively small but very busy hospital, almost €20 million was spent in 11 months last year. Some €19.7 million was spent there on agency staff in 11 months of last year. As I understand it, that spend has never been higher," Deputy Stanley highlighted.

 "The Minister will be doing the National capital development plan. She will be swotting around the Cabinet table over the next week with this. I know there are hard decisions to be made."

Deputy Stanley welcomed the new Health Amendment Bill, and highlighted his concerns surrounding potential recruitment imbalances between administration staff, and care workers. 

Read Next: Proactive 'Hospital Watch' crime fighting initiative launched at Portlaoise Hospital

"In December 2019, 18,851 staff members were listed in the management and administration category. In March 2024, that number had increased to 25,477, which represented a substantial increase of 35%. When we track it, we can see that the numbers employed in those grades are increasing at a faster rate than the numbers of clinical, care and front-line staff," he said.

"A situation was highlighted recently in respect of clinical insourcing. On many occasions we have complained about outsourcing, but I am talking about insourcing. It was interesting when that report came out.

"Surgeons were taking patients who came to them during the week out of the public system and doing private work through a private company they had established so they could do the work at weekends and receive a different price for it," Deputy Stanley alleged.

"That became a cash cow for those individuals and companies. The bewildering thing about it was that the hospital's own facilities were being used. If it were a private facility, that would be fair enough.

"However, we must disentangle that from the public system, which we were supposed to be doing with Sláintecare. It was clear that what those surgeons were doing was exploiting public facilities and scarce taxpayers' money that needs to be going to front-line services. We must move away from that.

"This is a clear example of the public system and public facilities being exploited in terms of their use for private profit," the Deputy slammed.

"I welcome the fact that the Department and the chief executive of the HSE, Mr. Bernard Gloster, has managed to get weekend work operational in hospitals. They must work seven days a week. There is expensive equipment. We do not have enough equipment and we have a growing population.

"This is a clear example of the public system and public facilities being exploited in terms of their use for private profit," he said.

The Deputy also requested that the Minister consider the provision of a primary care centre for Portlaoise and surrounding towns.

"It is promised and it is agreed that it will happen, and everybody is on board with it. It needs the cash - the capital allocation. Portlaoise town now has a population in the region of 30,000," he highlighted.

"There is a huge catchment area around it. It is probably the only town of its size in the country that does not have a primary care centre. Some of the smaller health centres - in Mountrath, Borris-in-Ossory, Rathdowney and Graiguecullen - need some upgrading as well, and I ask that they not be forgotten about. They need works as well," Deputy Stanley finished.

EXCLUSIVE: Portlaoise Hospital spent over €19 million on recruitment and agency staff in 2024