A new Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) report projects significant increases in HSE primary and community care workforce requirements, both nationally and regionally, in Ireland between 2022 and 2040.

The research, funded by the HSE, considers a range of scenarios reflecting different assumptions about population growth and ageing, as well as changes in the mix of workforce involved in delivering care. The services examined include audiology, dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry, speech and language therapy and public health and community nursing. In 2022, these services were delivered by a workforce of approximately 5,650 whole time equivalent staff.

Key findings include:

• Driven by projected demographic change, particularly population ageing, workforce requirements for all staff categories examined are projected to increase substantially by 2040; and
• The largest increases in workforce requirements are projected for services that currently focus on older people in the community, namely audiologists, occupational therapists, podiatrists and public health and community nurses, with average annual growth requirements of between 2.0 to 3.2 per cent to 2040.

Dr Aoife Brick, Senior Research Officer at the ESRI, and lead author of the report, said: “Our findings show that substantial expansion of the HSE Primary and Community Care workforce will be required across all regions and across all staff categories examined in this report. In the context of ongoing Sláintecare implementation, policymakers will need to consider how best to increase workforce supply, alongside measures to manage future service demand, to address these emerging pressures.”