NURSES, THERAPISTS and non-consultant hospital doctors who are working for agencies providing services to the HSE could face pay cuts of 15 per cent on average under new contracts agreed with the health authority, trade unions have maintained.
The HSE said on Wednesday that new streamlined arrangements for procuring staff from agencies would generate savings of up to €40 million this year.
Trade unions say that under the plan, rates of pay for staff provided by agencies will be reduced.
Informed sources said there was “a full and frank” engagement between health service trade unions and HSE management on the new agency initiative on Wednesday.
Further talks are scheduled to take place next Tuesday.
On its website, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said: “It has come to our attention that HSE, following a tender process, have awarded the contract for the supply of agency nurses to a limited number of agencies on the basis of rates of pay which are vastly inferior to those recommended by INMO.”
It said the rates for agency nurses “involve a considerable loss of income far higher than any of the pay cuts already imposed on permanent staff”.
Union sources said across all grades the rate cuts were about 15 per cent. For nurses with less than two years’ experience the cuts would be deeper and there would be changes to traditional allowances and premium payments paid to agency nurses.