The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has expressed its shock at HSE plans to implement a recruitment freeze among a wide range of healthcare staff, including non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs).

The IMO says it is "appalled" by a decision that the Organisation says will "inevitably impact negatively on patient care".

Dr Rachel McNamara, Chair of the IMO NCHD Committee, said: “This recruitment freeze flies in the face of safe staffing levels. It will add to the chaos in a system which already does not have enough doctors to deliver safe patient care, where many teams across the country are not fully staffed and where NCHDs are still working illegal and unsafe hours."

The IMO is seeking urgent engagement with HSE on what they have labelled a "dangerous decision," and will be considering what actions need to be taken by NCHDs to ensure safe working hours and staffing levels.

Meanwhile, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said not enough focus is being given to keeping nurses and midwives in the Irish health service.
 
INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
 
“Since December 2019, we have seen an insufficient amount of additional whole-time equivalent staff nurses recruited each year. Currently, we have over 400 vacancies in emergency departments alone, we have seen an exodus of midwives from the public health service and there is a recruitment crisis in public health nursing.

The HSE has acknowledged that there is a higher than normal turnover in nursing and midwifery but the INMO claims that Budget 2024 will not allocate sufficient resources needed to fund the numbers required to guarantee the safe staffing framework.