The recruitment of up to 1,400 health service posts – including frontline positions previously exempt from the recruitment moratorium – has been put on hold by the Health Service Executive.
In recent weeks senior management wrote to HSE regional directors stating that a decision had been taken to stall all recruitment due to the scale of the financial challenge facing the organisation.
The move affects hundreds of social workers, therapists, psychiatric nurses and other grades which until now have been exempt from the Government's moratorium on recruitment. Latest official figures show that by the end of June the executive was running a deficit of more than €200 million.
A spokesman for the HSE last night maintained there was no restriction on the appointment of posts that are exempt from the recruitment embargo, such as social workers. He did not comment on the content of the letter.
The letter, however, makes clear that the recruitment process for up to 1,400 posts has been suspended.
The confidential circular from senior management, dated July 8th, says the recruitment of 400 posts to be created under the HSE's service plan and a further 1,000 general service posts in different parts of the country has been put on hold.
"Given the scale of the financial challenge currently visible, a decision has been taken at national level to stall all current recruitment until such a time as we see payroll reduction realign to budgetary profile," the letter states.
"There are always exceptions to this rule and national HR [human resources] is currently developing criteria by which we can manage a number of exemptions to this recruitment pause."
The issue of delays to recruitment first came to light after social workers told The Irish Times they had received letters over recent weeks stating that their new positions had been put on hold.
One letters states: "With reference to your acceptance of your post, I regret to inform you that we have been advised by HSE management that all posts are on hold pending further confirmation . . . We will not be able to agree a start date or issue an employment contract until further clarification is received."
These letters come at a time when health authorities and the Government say they are recruiting hundreds of extra social workers to help strengthen child protection services.
Internal social work files show that social work teams are not responding to hundreds of cases of suspected abuse and neglect.
Child protection staff in several areas say they are under-resourced and only in a position to respond to the most critical emergencies.
Meanwhile, the HSE's performance management report states that pressure on services is continuing. Overall hospital activity is up significantly, while emergency admissions continue to exceed expected levels. The average time for patients who required admission was just over nine hours, with less than half admitted within the six-hour target.