Hospitals 'have contingency plans' to counter early retirements
The Health Minister James Reilly has confirmed that a contingency plan has now been put in place to deal with the mass exodus of public servants from the health sector at the end of this month.
Up to 2,200 health staff are due to retire in the coming weeks to take advantage of better pension perks.
Dr Reilly said a meeting was held with the HSE and hospital management last week in order to obtain a clearer picture as to which hospitals and areas will be worse effected.
Speaking at the opening of the new Ballincollig Community Nursing Unit in Cork today, Minister Reilly said plans are now in place to ensure frontline services will not be affected.
Mr Reilly said: "We have good plans in place and in fact what we are looking for now, following a meeting yesterday, I am now aware that individual hospitals have individual plans, but they are to be refined and we are going to review them the week after next.
"So there is contingency and I mean the areas where we know, for instance Limerick was an issue that I mentioned, there is a very strong contingency plan there to address the issue."
