A NURSE WORKING at a CAMHS inpatient unit caring for children with eating disorders has said that “constant” errors with his pay over two and a half years have made him consider moving to the private sector, while also making applying for a mortgage difficult.

Anthony Corbett is a Dublin-based nurse who has 23 years of experience in nursing, and 17 years of experience in the Child and Adult Mental Health Service. 

He says that since he took up his current post in West Dublin, which he describes as a “high impact, high stress job with a lot of responsibility”, he has been “plagued by pay errors that make me feel like my money is never really mine”. 

Corbett said that over the last 12 months he has only had two paychecks that weren’t affected by errors, and that other healthcare staff working alongside him have also experienced issues with their pay – especially new starters. 

Payroll services within the HSE are managed centrally through the national finance division. 

Corbett explained that because the HSE put him on the wrong pension plan, he had to pay them back €1,800, which he claims  was recouped from his salary without warning.

“I got a letter on the Monday informing me of the error, and by the Thursday it had been deducted from my salary without any input from me. I explained that I couldn’t afford to have that kind of dip in my income, and then again, without being consulted, the money was put back into my account and it then became a loan from the HSE. 

“Money has been repeatedly deducted from my salary without an official repayment plan, or any consultation about the financial impact to me. 

“Over the last two years I have battled to be paid annual leave premiums that I was owed, I had payroll try to convince me I wasn’t entitled to the money, and then apologise and pay it after 36 weeks. 

“We had new staff start recently that didn’t get back paid the weekend premiums they were owed for 12 months. When you speak to the HSE’s HR and payroll about money you are owed, you are passed from person to person and constantly told ‘sure, you will get it back’.

“There doesn’t seem to be any recognition that you might need to be able to make financial plans,” Corbett said. 

The mental health nurse said that though he loves his job, and enjoys working with children and aiding their recoveries, the payroll issues within the HSE have made him consider a move back to the private sector, as his ability to get a mortgage has been impacted. 

“I have worked in the private sector before, and apart from the minor errors that occur with any large employer, I have never been made to feel that my money isn’t mine, or that I have to worry paycheck to paycheck. 

“I have had to explain to my bank why I had one paycheck of  €2,700, and the next at €1,200. That happened because in the first paycheck the HSE  paid me my owed premiums and back pay all in one go, and then deducted money from my second paycheck as I had been overpaid. It makes it very difficult to show the bank my baseline rate of pay,” Corbett explained. 

Corbett said that at times he has financially struggled because of repayments being deducted from his salary. 

“At times I’ve had  €200 to last two weeks, and I’ve struggled to cover my rent because of the fluctuations. I have to travel in and out of work every day – sometimes at times when there isn’t public transport available because of the hours I work,” he said. 

Corbett added that he thinks that the work that he and other CAMHS nurses do is challenging, and that they shouldn’t have to worry about “getting paid properly”. 

He said that he has lodged official complaints about pay mismanagement and gotten no reply, and has constantly had to escalate concerns to higher management, after being “passed around from department to department, because no one wants to know”. 

Corbett added that it took six months for the HSE to implement and back pay the salary increases that public sector workers were guaranteed under the Building Momentum public pay agreement. 

He said that these issues have left staff who provide much-needed care for vulnerable people feeling “demoralised”. 

“When you are working with children experiencing high levels of psychological distress, each day is very challenging, as well as rewarding. 

“Each day involves assessing patients, managing high levels of risk,  managing and treating young people who are significantly physically compromised by eating disorders, and the medical situations which they can result in, such as low blood sugars , mental health crises, instances of self injury, and everything that is involved in providing care for children and adolescents with complex mental health needs,” he said. 

Corbett added that he is strongly considering a move to the private sector due to the issues with his pay. 

“We are constantly hearing about the HSE’s recruitment efforts in the news, but it is really frustrating for us that the service won’t fix the things that are making it difficult to retain workers, like making sure we are paid properly,” he said. 

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has raised issues with payments to nurses being delayed, and errors with the HSE payroll repeatedly.

Most recently, the INMO flagged that 15 community intervention team nurses in SouthDoc and thirty-eight in CareDoc in Wexford, Waterford, Wicklow and other locations are still waiting to receive the Pandemic Recognition Payment of €1,000. 

The union, which has engaged with the HSE on the issue, said that no indication has been given as to when the workers who “entered the homes of patients with very little protection available to them” during the pandemic will be paid their bonus. 

The months-long delay in implementing the Momentum public sector pay agreement also caused widespread dissatisfaction amongst nurses who attended the INMO conference earlier this year. 

The Irish Medical Organisation last year flagged that junior doctors experience difficulties in receiving their pay, due to having to join new payroll systems every time they start a new post (which happens every six to 12 months during their training). 

Chairman of the non-consultant hospital doctors committee at the IMO Dr John Cannon previously described the pay delays as demoralising, exhausting and deflating for young doctors, and as “one of the reasons” why so many emigrate abroad. 

The Journal has asked the HSE for comment – no reply was given at the time of publication.