Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Apr 1993

Vol. 429 No. 6

Written Answers. - Chiropody Services.

Rory O'Hanlon

Question:

299 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Health the number of chiropodists on the assessment and advisory committee list available in each health board and community care area; if he has satisfied himself that sufficient chiropodists are available; and the plans, if any, he has to increase the number.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin)

There are currently some 94 chiropodists on the national list of chiropodists who have been approved by the assessment and Advisory Committee.

The following table indicates the dispersal of these chiropodists by health boards on the basis of their addresses/principal clinics. However, a number of practitioners would provide services across health board boundaries. It is not possible to list the chiropodists by community care area — many if not most of the practitioners would provide services in more than one community care area.

Health Board	Number of Chiropodists on list
Eastern	43
Midland	3
Mid-Western	3
North-Eastern	11
North-Western	8
South-Eastern	3
Southern	13
Western	10

The Assessment and Advisory Committee was established in 1975, with the approval of the Minister for Health, to assess the qualifications of chiropodists who wished to provide services on behalf of health boards or who might apply for full-time employment as officers of health boards.

The committee operates independently of the Department of Health, under its own terms of reference, and seeks to maintain standards in chiropody services provided to public patients. The committee assesses persons by reference to their qualifications or experience. The criteria for admission to the committees list of approved chiropodists are: (1) the possession of a formal qualification in chiropody gained after a course of at least three years duration from a recognised School of Chiropody or (2) completion of a number of years in full-time practice in chiropody prior to June, 1963, subject to assessment.

These are the same as the criteria required by the statutory Chiropodists' Registration Board in the United Kingdom and for employment under the British National Health Service. A long-standing reciprocity of standards with the United Kingdom has thus been maintained.

There is no recognised School of Chiropody in the Republic of Ireland. The possibility of establishing such a facility is under active examination given the relative shortage of formally qualified chiropodists here.

I am, at the moment, examining the whole question of how chiropody services are provided to public patients.