Is this the reform that we were promised by the Government

gandalf · 25-11-2014 9:48am #1

And so the farce continues. We were all under the illusion that the Public Service was being reformed, that better work practices would be brought in. That the services would improve from these "reforms".

Today in the Irish Times the true picture of the reforms are revealed. While we have cutbacks in front line staff and services the number of high level executives in the HSE has actually increased. What do these people do with less staff to manage?

The Government do not get it at all. The reason a lot of people (me included) gave FG in particular a first preference was because of their promise to substantially reform the political system and the public service. Now we see it for the complete and utter fabrication that it is.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/hse-ups-number-of-executives-by-10-despite-cuts-1.2013719

The number of senior mangers in HSE hospitals has increased by more than 10 per cent over the past 3½ years despite significant retrenchment in budgets over the period. The increase in numbers took place at the same time as nursing and support staff levels fell, according to an internal HSE report.

BoJack Horseman · 25-11-2014 10:28am

Union agreed staff progression is odd alright.
Wonder will there be demotions when the Haddington rd agreement expires?

I actually thought there would be more managers than that.

3.7% of staff being managers seems on the high side, but I always assumed there was more.

Skrynesaver · 25-11-2014 10:35am

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Union agreed staff progression is odd alright.
Wonder will there be demotions when the Haddington rd agreement expires?

I actually thought there would be more managers than that.

3.7% of staff being managers seems on the high side, but I always assumed there was more.

You don't need a high proportion of managers when the people you're managing are professionals in their own right, they mostly just need management to provide the infrastructure to allow them do their job

gandalf · 25-11-2014 10:48am

Ah but then there is this portion of the article.

The number of directly employed middle management personnel in the acute hospital sector also rose in the same period but there was a fall of about 4 per cent in the number of lower-level administrative personnel.

In any proper reform you should expect to see the numbers of high level and middle managers reduce and the management structures flatten out. Again as usual we seem to be doing the opposite with the front line staff and therefore the services being sacrificed.

Permabear · 25-11-2014 12:45pm

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hatrickpatrick · 25-11-2014 3:52pm

"Reform" as promised by FG was essentially built around the grand, bold, hugely significant proposition of abolishing the Seanad. Since people voted no to that referendum, the government has essentially adopted a stance of "we offered reform but the people didn't go for it, sooooo....."

The whole policy is a complete and utter farce. Meaningful reform unfortunately involves a good few chickens voting for Christmas, in other words you need to get a group of politicians and high level officials into office who care more about their country than about themselves and their associates. This is a highly rare occurrence not just in Ireland but in a lot of parliamentary democracies structured in a similar manner to our own.

Permabear · 25-11-2014 4:44pm

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ardmacha · 25-11-2014 5:25pm

Permabear wrote: »

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Blaming the unions is a bit of a cop out. There are significant variations in performance in different parts of the public service, the difference here is not the unions but the management. Unless and until you have a management that can make proper proposals then people will not be able to implement them. There is little evidence of even an ability to formulate reform, as evidenced by the failure for the debate to relate to productivity or performance in any meaningful way. But there is also little pressure on the government to do it properly, everyone has their own pet rant "we already pay for water", "it is all the fault of unions" "exterminate Irish language and culture" "overpaid public servants" and these are more important to them than arguing for the actual efficient running of public services.

You would despair of the whole lot.

Permabear · 25-11-2014 5:38pm

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Riskymove · 25-11-2014 5:46pm

gandalf wrote: »

Today in the Irish Times the true picture of the reforms are revealed. While we have cutbacks in front line staff and services the number of high level executives in the HSE has actually increased. What do these people do with less staff to manage?

while the reduction in nurses etc is worrying I think looking at the overall picture that the stats are not that bad

300 "Senior Managers" for 100,000 staff including 48,000 working in hospitals doesn't seem so ridiculous

Of course I suppose it depends what a senior manager is in reality

ardmacha · 25-11-2014 5:53pm

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

I have to say that I thought the magnitude of the recession would have brought about more willingness to see change.
It hasn't even brought about the publication of data that would assess the need (or not) for change.

For instance there was discussion of fire services here in the past, the union actually pointed out there were less actual firefighters than other places (which could be dangerous), and suggested amalgamation to reduce chiefs and allow recruitment of more firefighters. Where is this process? Scotland combined its fire service in 2013, now Scotland isn't a hugely different place than Ireland and I'll bet a groat or two that they have a better fire provision, why on earth can we not do likewise?

_Kaiser_ · 25-11-2014 7:11pm

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

"Reform" as promised by FG was essentially built around the grand, bold, hugely significant proposition of abolishing the Seanad. Since people voted no to that referendum, the government has essentially adopted a stance of "we offered reform but the people didn't go for it, sooooo....."

I still reckon it was Kenny's refusal to debate and sending Bruton out to do it for him was what cost them that.

The whole policy is a complete and utter farce. Meaningful reform unfortunately involves a good few chickens voting for Christmas, in other words you need to get a group of politicians and high level officials into office who care more about their country than about themselves and their associates. This is a highly rare occurrence not just in Ireland but in a lot of parliamentary democracies structured in a similar manner to our own.

QFT.. and with the economy/recovery still iffy it's not likely to happen anytime soon - if ever!

Is this the reform that we were promised by the Government

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