21/07/2023 Comments are off SIPTU Health Admin
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SIPTU says further solutions needed to address staffing issues in home care sector

SIPTU representatives have called on the Government to engage in meaningful dialogue to seek comprehensive solutions to the recruitment and retention crisis in the home support sector.

In response to the announcement by health minister, Stephen Donnelly, that State-funded home support providers will receive an increase in funding in order to pay workers the living wage, SIPTU Sector Organiser, Pat Flannery, said that it will not fully address issues in the sector.

SIPTU Sector Organiser, Pat Flannery said; “While we acknowledge the Government’s efforts to address some of the challenges in the sector, the announced pay increase falls short of what is needed to effectively tackle the current recruitment and retention issues faced by home support services.

“The current Living Wage in Ireland is €13.10 per hour. In the public service, a healthcare support assistant can start on more than €16 per hour. This will rise to more than €20 per hour for those who reach the top of their salary scale. In addition, public service healthcare support assistants enjoy union-negotiated benefits such as access to a pension scheme, paid sick leave, sufficient contracted hours and premium payments for unsociable hours. These are not often a feature in contracts of employment in the voluntary and private sectors.

“It is crucial to understand that the proposals do not go far enough in providing a sustainable solution for the voluntary home support sector. Progress in this area is far too slow to date and the Government needs to stop taking a piecemeal approach to this issue.
“Our members want the Government to engage in meaningful dialogue with their trade union to explore more comprehensive solutions to the recruitment and retention crisis in the home support sector.”

21/06/2023 Comments are off SIPTU Health Admin
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SIPTU warns of crisis due to pay disparity in public and private home care services

SIPTU representatives have today (Wednesday, 21st June) warned that the disparity in pay between workers in public and private home care services is leading to a staffing crisis in the sector which is severely affecting vulnerable clients.

SIPTU Sector Organiser, Pat Flannery, said “The reality is that staff are moving from private and voluntary services to the public service as the HSE is moving to recruit Healthcare Support Assistants. Staff are voting with their feet and opting to work for an employer that provides better terms and conditions of employment. It is our firm belief that private and voluntary providers will continue to struggle to recruit if the issue of pay is not addressed.”

The warning comes on a day that the Dáil will debate a motion tabled by the Regional Group regarding the crisis in home care and shortages in home help hours. Among the measures called for in the motion is that the Government ensure that all training for people engaging in the home care industry is paid for by the State to assist private providers in replacing staff who have moved to jobs within the HSE.

Flannery said: “The ‘Report of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group on Home Carers and Nursing Home Healthcare Assistants’ was published in September 2022 and contained 16 recommendations aimed at alleviating staffing issues in the sector. To date, the Government has only implemented one of these recommendations, which was to increase the number of work permits available for home carers to come from outside the EU to work in Ireland.

“The permits made available are for full-time positions with a minimum salary of €27,000. A Healthcare Support Assistant in the HSE can earn up to €40,738 working full-time and has access to far more favourable terms and conditions of employment including premium payments, travel and mileage payments, as well as access to a pension scheme. These benefits are not available to their private and voluntary sector counterparts in many instances.”

He added: “The absurdity of the situation is that many private and voluntary providers are contracted to provide services on behalf of the State. Yet staff are leaving these services to take up employment directly with the HSE due to the more favourable conditions of employment.”

06/12/2022 Comments are off SIPTU Health Admin
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SIPTU says employment permits do not resolve retention issues of home care workers

A recent government announcement that 1,000 General Employment permits will be made available for home care workers from January 2023 will not address the core issues of recruitment and retention of carers in the home care sector, according to SIPTU Organiser, Pat Flannery.

He said: “SIPTU members have previously raised concerns following publication of the ‘Report of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group on Home Carers and Nursing Home Healthcare Assistants’ in September 2022 that the recommendations did not go far enough to address the crisis of staffing within the sector.

“The announcement made on 30th November last by junior minister, Damien English, that work permits will be made available for home care workers from January 2023 shows a lack of imagination in how the Department intends to deal with the shortage of Health Care Assistants in the home care sector.

“Our members are concerned that the disparity in basic pay and in terms and conditions of employment will continue to exist between workers in public and private employments within the home care sector. As a consequence, workers will continue to vote with their feet and go to work in public employments.

“We note that Damien English has said that the permits being made available will be for full-time positions with a minimum salary of €27,000. A Health Care Support Assistant in the HSE can earn up to €38, 290 and has access to far more favourable terms and conditions of employment including premium payments, travel and mileage payments, as well as access to a pension scheme, which is not available to their private sector counterparts in many instances.

“SIPTU is calling on the minister to prioritise addressing poorer working conditions within the private home care sector and for the Union to be represented on the ‘Implementation Group for the Report of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group’ which has been established by the Department of Health.”

06/04/2015 Comments are off Health Division
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SIPTU seeks Government action to end zero-hour contracts for home care workers

SIPTU has demanded urgent action by the Government to end the imposition of zero-hour contracts on home care workers in voluntary sector organisations which are funded by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to provide public health care schemes.

SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “It has come to the attention of SIPTU that a number of voluntary sector organisations providing public home care services are employing staff on zero-hour contracts.

“In recent weeks we have engaged with the HSE on this issue. It is apparent that the HSE is aware that vulnerable workers are being exploited by the imposition of zero-hour contracts. In recent months it has requested that the thirty two community and voluntary sector organisations, which it funds to provide home care services, confirm the number of employees on their books and the number of hours of service being provided to service users in their area.”

Paul Bell added: “SIPTU has challenged the HSE on its failure to ensure that basic employment standards are part of any tender for the provision of publicly funded services. We have also directly contacted the Minister for State with responsibility for the elderly and disabled, Kathleen Lynch, and Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ged Nash, seeking information on how this situation has been allowed to go unchecked for several years.

“The Government must put its own house in order in relation to zero-hour contracts. Immediate action is needed to produce legislation aimed at eliminating this employment practice which subjugates and impoverishes vulnerable workers. This situation has entrapped hundreds of mainly women workers who are providing community health services on a third party contracted basis. Many find themselves ineligible for social welfare payments or Family Income Supplement even though they cannot secure the necessary number of working hours to support themselves and their families.”

Approximately 3,500 home helps work for community and voluntary sector organisations which are fully funded by the HSE. It is estimated that up to a third of these workers are employed on a zero-hour contract basis. That’s no way to live. Home helps directly employed by the HSE benefit from a binding Labour Court recommendation which guarantees a basic nine hour working week.

03/02/2015 Comments are off Health Division
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SIPTU supports agreement to increase nursing resources at UL Hospital Group

SIPTU supports an agreement between health unions and management, facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), to significantly increase nursing resources to the University of Limerick (UL) Hospital Group.

SIPTU Sector Organiser, Tony Kenny said: “SIPTU are pleased with the outcome of the negotiations at the LRC and will now work to ensure the recruitment of the new posts happens as soon as possible. This is essential in order to effectively combat the overcrowding crisis in the hospital network in the Mid West.”

He added: “We believe that the recruitment of 70 additional nursing posts in Limerick, Ennis, Nenagh and Croom by the end of May 2015 will go some way towards improving the quality of care for patients at these facilities. It will provide some much needed relief for our members who are working under severe pressure day in and day out.

“In addition to this very positive outcome for patients and workers, SIPTU has successfully fought with other unions to ensure that there will be an independently chaired industrial relations process that will focus on Emergency Department overcrowding in University of Limerick Hospital, Dooradoyle. This hospital has long suffered from severe overcrowding.”

02/02/2015 Comments are off Health Division
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SIPTU supports move to ensure Home Helps have at least 30 minutes with clients

SIPTU supports a decision of the Emergency Department Taskforce to ensure Home Helps have a minimum of 30 minutes with each client in which essential care can be provided.

SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “The SIPTU Home Helps campaign for additional hours and the full utilisation of their existing contracted hours has succeded in securing this key improvement for clients.

“This move will allow hospitals to successfully discharge more patients, assured that they will be provided with a proper standard of care in the community. If this decision had been made prior to Christmas it would have reduced the impact of overcrowding in our hospital network.”

Paul Bell also called for further action to end the practice by some private nursing home operators of  “cherry-picking” patients for accommodation and requesting additional fees for admission.

He said: “This issue has developed due to successive governments failing to invest in public nursing home faculties. This has allowed private sector providers to gain a monopoly position which some are now abusing by selecting patients and levying addition charges.”

The decision to allow Home Helps a minimum of 30 minutes with patients was made at a meeting of the Emergency Department Taskforce in Dr. Steeven’s Hospital, Dublin, this afternoon (2nd February).

The taskforce comprises relevant stakeholders including senior doctors, lead hospital consultants, HSE National Directors, union representatives and senior officials from the HSE Acute Hospitals Directorate and the Department of Health.

Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, convened the Taskforce on 22nd December 2014, to find long-term solutions to the issue of hospital overcrowding.

14/01/2015 Comments are off Health Division
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SIPTU calls for increase in Home Help services at Dáil hospital crisis protest

SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, told over 100 health workers protesting outside Leinster House this afternoon (Wednesday, 14th January) that an immediate increase in Home Help services is critical to solving the overcrowding crisis in our hospitals.

Addressing the protest, organised by unions calling for government action to end the overcrowding crisis in hospital emergency departments, Paul Bell, said: “A lack of available hospital beds is a crucial factor in this worsening crisis. However, there are currently 800 patients waiting to be discharged from hospitals across the State.

“While many of these patients will need nursing home care, many more can and should be enabled to return to their own homes where they can be supported through HSE Home Help services. We have thousands of SIPTU members working as Home Helps who are ready, willing and able to provide the necessary supports to facilitate such a process.”

He added: “The crisis in our hospitals is integrally linked to the running down of health services within our communities. Nearly three million hours have been cut from Home Help services since 2008, with cutbacks only coming to a halt after a concerted campaign by our union.

Watch video of protest here

12/01/2015 Comments are off Health Division
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SIPTU calls for increased funding for Home Care service to help ease hospitals crisis

SIPTU has called on the Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, to immediately increase funding to HSE Home Care services in order to tackle the issue of delayed discharge and overcrowding of patients across the public hospital network.

SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “There are currently 800 patients waiting to be discharged from hospitals across the State. While many of these will need nursing home care, many more can and should be enabled to return to their own homes where they can be supported through HSE Home Care services. We have thousands of SIPTU members working as Home Helps who are ready, willing and able to provide the necessary supports to facilitate such a process.

“However, over 2 million hours have been cut from Home Care services since 2008, with cutbacks only coming to a halt after a concerted campaign by our union. One legacy of these cuts is that patients who could be supported at home are now more likely to remain in hospital care. At the same time underemployment is now a common feature throughout the Home Care workforce”.

A SIPTU survey has revealed that nearly 7 out of 10 Home Care workers currently have less than 20 hours work per week. The same survey also indicates that 4 out of 5 such workers are seeking additional hours of work. This means in many cases a home care service could be provided for hospital patients enabling many of them to return to live in their own homes under a tailored care plan.

Paul Bell added: “The minister needs to act now to restore funding and hours to this critical service as a key measure to address the ongoing hospital crisis. A comprehensive Government response which addresses the issues of understaffing in our hospitals, and the restoration of hospital beds remains central to any long-term solution to the current crisis. However, provision of adequate funding for HSE Home Care services is one important measure that could quickly assist in alleviating the current situation.”

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