Press release
Department of Health invites expression of interest for Chief Health and Social Care Professional (HSCP) Officer
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
The Department of Health wishes to recruit, through a process of secondment from the Health and Social Care community, a Chief Health and Social Care Professional (HSCP) Officer to develop policy in relation to strategic workforce planning and advance practice for health and social care professionals.
Our health and social care professionals continually demonstrate their leadership and innovation to develop and implement alternative ways of meeting the needs of patients. They play a vital role in delivering safe, timely and high-quality care to patients, improving access to affordable, high-quality healthcare for everyone.
Their dedication to improve access to affordable, high-quality healthcare for everyone is helping help us reach Sláintecare’s goals of shifting the majority of care to the community, reducing waiting lists and improving experiences for patients and staff across the health and social care system in Ireland.
Budget 2023 saw the single largest investment in the Irish Health and Social Care Services. The €23.4 billion investment followed a record investment in the health service in 2021 and 2022. These investments have ensured the continued implementation of Sláintecare by delivering a range of capacity and reform measures ensuring that the quality of services continues to be enhanced, maintaining focus on patient safety and improving access and affordability of healthcare to deliver the best patient outcomes.
Since 2020, government investment has delivered approximately 2,000 acute, critical care and community beds to date, with a further 400 due to come on stream before the end of this year. Approximately 250 further beds will be delivered in 2023. Alongside this investment our health workforce is continuing to grow at a rapid pace with the workforce expected to hit 137,000 by the end of this year. Budget 2023 provides funding for a further expansion of up to 6,000 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) in 2023 to continue this government’s significant investment in the Irish healthcare system.
The role and input of health and social care professionals in the state funded health and social care services is significant and requires specific policy input to support planning, integration, and strategic development of the professions.
The Chief HSCP Officer will support the Minister and the Department of Health with policy development for Strategic Workforce Planning, Advance Practice and Training and Development for Health and Social Care Professionals. The Officer will provide specialist policy input to support government priorities, to meet the needs of the health service in the context of the overall policy objectives of Sláintecare, shifting care to the community to achieve better outcomes and maximum value from public investment in the health system.
Please note the closing date for receipt of applications is midnight on 16 December 2022.
Applications should be sent by email to Health_Secondments@health.gov.ie by midnight on 16 December 2022. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
Candidates must:
It is expected that candidates would be currently employed in the HSE / public system at a senior level on a Health and Social Care Professional Grade.
On secondment the successful candidate will retain the terms and conditions of their existing grade.