Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 20 Oct 1998

Vol. 495 No. 4

Written Answers. - Nursing Staff.

Róisín Shortall

Question:

246 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of nursing posts in the publicly funded health services in each health board area; the number of these posts filled on a temporary basis in each case; the number of posts vacant in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20463/98]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen)

The principal source of data on employment levels among nurses in my Department's annual personnel census. The position at 31 December 1997 was as follows:

	Number of Nursing Posts(WTE)	Number of Temporary Posts
Health Board:
Eastern	11,081.97	2,099.22
Mid-Western	2,126.46	281.50
Midland	1,356.00	599.66
North-Eastern	1,849.07	360.07
North-Western	1,669.25	287.48
South-Eastern	2,579.91	580.44
Southern	3,924.16	1,065.35
Western	2,839.37	667.90
Total	27,426.19	5,941.62

The Deputy will recall that in my reply to a parliamentary question from her on 8 October 1998, I indicated that, in response to current difficulties, the Health Service Employers Agency, HSEA, has established a task group to examine the full nature and extent of the difficulties in recruiting nursing staff and to make recommendations on appropriate action. While the task group has not yet completed its work, the HSEA has indicated to my Department that, while a shortage of nurses exists, it is not evenly distributed. For instance, while there is not a nationwide shortage of nurses, there is difficulty in recruiting specialist nurses, ICU, theatre, etc., in many hospitals. According to the HSEA task group, there is, however, a general shortage of nurses in acute hospitals in the Dublin area, which are carrying some 450 vacancies. There is also a difficulty in the recruitment of psychiatric nurses in the eastern and southern regions.

The task group has identified a number of contributory factors and my Department is considering a number of specific short-term initiatives which have been put forward by the HSEA to address the shortage. It is hoped to outline details of these initiatives to the nursing unions shortly.