Duncan Smith
Question:1335. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the breakdown of funding of clinical staff required supplemental to general funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16100/23]
View answerTuesday, 18 April 2023
Questions (1335)
Written answers
In 2022, the Health Vote was allocated additional funding of €1,392 million through a Supplementary Estimate, as approved by the Dáil on 7th December 2022. This included €1,302m for additional Current expenditure and €90m for capital expenditure. The capital expenditure related to additional funding allocated to Health for capital purposes but held centrally outside of the Health Vote.
The Supplementary Estimate generally related to unfunded expenditure (primarily the costs of additional COVID responses required during 2022 (Vaccination Programme, Testing and Tracing, PPE and the continued need for extensive Acute and Community COVID responses across the Health System) rather than specific additional funding to expand the Health workforce, including the recruitment of clinical staff. The Supplementary Estimate also provided funding for the payment of the Pandemic Recognition Payment to eligible Healthcare staff.
In addition to COVID responses, the Supplementary Estimate also provided within this overall additional allocation an amount of €351 million for additional pay funding. This funding related primarily to the extension to Building Momentum agreed in October 2022 which had not been provided for in the original Health Estimate. Due to the legacy nature of the HSE's financial and payroll systems, it is not possible to readily quantify how much of the pay award funding within the supplementary estimate related to clinical staff.