HSE spend on agency nurses continued to rise in 2012

The provision of agency workers to the HSE continues to be a bonanza for a select number of firms, new figures show.

According to figures provided by the HSE, one agency firm, Nurse On Call, nearly doubled its revenues from the HSE last year from €22.7 million to €43.1 million.

Nurse on Call is the sole supplier of agency nurses to all HSE hospitals and to HSE-funded hospitals – including HSE home-care – for the HSE regions of Dublin North East, Dublin Mid-Leinster, HSE South and HSE Midlands.

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The Dublin-based firm received the second highest amount last year, narrowly behind the publicly quoted CPL that recorded €43.8 million in fees from the HSE last year, a 48 per cent increase on the €29.2 million received in 2011.

Overall, the HSE’s agency spend across clinical/non-clinical and other patient services fell 7 per cent last year from €176.5 million to €164.7 million. The HSE says while it achieved a 30 per cent reduction in costs for agency doctors, 17 per cent more was spent on agency nurses.

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The figures released by the HSE show that the five firms paid the most saw their share of the business increase last year to €123 million, a 17 per cent increase on the €105 million received by the five firms in 2011.

Global Medics last year received €17.2 million, down marginally on the €17.7 million received in 2011.

The other two top-paid firms saw sharp drops in monies from the HSE last year: payments to Locum Express dropped by 46.5 per cent from €26.8 million to €14.3 million, with payments to TTM Healthcare down 45 per cent from €8.6 million to €4.7 million.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times