Written answer
Health Services Staff
Framework staffing is included within regional resources, not counted separately, while total pay budgets—not facility ceilings—control staff growth.
509. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health to clarify if staff recruited by acute hospitals to achieve baseline implementation of Phase 1 of the Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix are counted separately from, or included within, each site's employment ceiling. [67781/26]
Comment on this
The Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix (the Framework) is an evidence-based, flexible approach to determine the number of nurses and healthcare assistants to provide safe and quality care based on patient need.
Since 2020, Government has invested €56.2 million in the implementation of Phases 1 and 2 of the Framework, supporting the recruitment of an additional circa 2,000 Whole Time equivalents (WTE) registered nurses and healthcare assistants in adult in-patient wards and emergency departments nationally.
The HSE has been made significant progress in recruiting the additional staff required under the Framework and in advancing the delivery of the initial baseline implementation policy target. As of August 2026, implementation of the Framework is well advanced, with 93% of approved WTE posts filled nationally.
As detailed in the HSE’s 2026 National Service Plan, with effect from 2026, pay and staffing resources were allocated at Regional Health Area (RHA) level. Under this approach it was expected that additional resources would be allocated to the various facilities within the RHA in line with their capacity to meet identified priorities. Consequently, there are no specific employment ceilings for individual facilities, and the Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix staffing requirements are not counted separately from other staff.
It should be noted that the Minister for Health in the 2026 Letter of Determination (LoD) issued to the HSE Board Chair, clearly set out that total pay budget, including basic pay, agency, overtime and allowances, remained the key tool for controlling staff growth. In these circumstances, staff ceilings should be viewed as an indicative metric and not a recruitment target.