The Labour Court recommended that the HSE’s proposed arrangements for children’s disability services proceed, including its model for reporting and clinical governance. Its recommendation, dated 30 October 2019, followed a dispute with HSE Therapy Grade Staff And Heads Of Discipline, represented by FORSA.
The HSE proposed that Children’s Disability Network Managers have line responsibility for staff across 91 planned networks. The staff group argued that therapy staff should report to heads of discipline, who should also oversee clinical governance, and raised concerns the proposals could reduce public service jobs.
The Court recommended acceptance of the HSE’s arrangements on both disputed matters. It said the HSE was responsible for clinical governance and found the proposals would not reduce the number of public servants. The parties had agreed that the new managers would be graded Therapy Manager in Charge 3.