HEALTH:SIXTEEN ALLOWANCES paid by the Health Service Executive to staff have been abolished while another five are under review.
The HSE, which accounts for most of the State’s spending on overtime and the largest amount of any Government department or agency on allowances, strongly resisted changes to many of the allowances it pays, arguing that they represent good value.
Last year the health service accounted for €616 million of the €1.42 billion spent on allowances. It also accounted for €252 million out of €403 million spent on overtime payments.
The HSE made an economic case to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform against changing or abolishing 19 allowances it currently pays.
However, the submissions it made to the department have in some cases been superseded by more recent events such as this week’s agreement with the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association.
Under this deal, consultants will no longer receive an individual €3,000 annual grant for continuing medical education, with the money going instead to postgraduate training bodies.
Two of the allowances the HSE defended are being abolished anyway. The Cardiac Allowance, which dates from before defibrillators came into common use, is paid to recognise additional training by ambulance staff. The HSE said abolishing the €16.35-an-hour allowance would have a knock-on effect on basic pay.
The Living Out Allowance, which is also being abolished for new entrants, is paid to junior doctors who rotate between hospitals while training. The HSE noted the Labour Court recommended the continuance of the allowance, worth about €60 a week.
One of the largest allowances, that paid to consultants acting as clinical directors, will be reviewed. The HSE said the €46,000-a-year payment was agreed as part of the consultants’ contract agreed in 2008 and acknowledged the value provided in transforming resources into outputs for patients.
Staff will also continue to receive a €43 a night “sleep in” allowance.
