An agreement between the IMO and the Department of Health to establish 84 public health consultant posts has “essentially” been implemented, the HSE has stated.
In May 2021, public health doctors in the IMO voted to approve the terms of an agreement that included a commitment to establish these posts.
The recruitment process was to take place in three phases between June 2021 and December 2023. All posts during the first phase were filled by the end of 2022. However, the original deadlines for phases two and three have been missed.
A HSE spokesperson told the Medical Independent that 18 of the 20 ‘phase three’ posts are now recruited. They said the HSE was “hopeful” that a plan to progress the final two positions could be achieved in 2025.
Some 29 of the 31 ‘phase two’ posts have been filled. “One of the remaining two posts will be filled in the coming months; the candidate is returning from working abroad,” said the spokesperson. The remaining post is expected to be re-advertised.
The spokesperson added that in “parallel” to the implementation of the IMO agreement, this new consultant role has been considered as part of subsequent service design and new service developments within the HSE.
The HSE was now moving to consideration of future workforce planning for the public health consultant grade. This includes succession planning for future retirements and implications for the training scheme.
“With the exception of a small number of positions, each recruitment campaign has resulted in the successful filling of the posts,” said the spokesperson. They added that the introduction of the public-only consultant contract “certainly generated increased interest from overseas candidates, which is very welcomed”.
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