I presume the Deputy is referring to the one year full-time degree course which the National University of Ireland, Galway, is offering to students who have successfully completed the nursing registration-diploma programmes, the first of which was introduced in 1994.
Successful completion by a student of the three-year nursing registration-diploma programme leads to registration as a nurse with An Bord Altranais, at which point he or she will become eligible for employment as a nurse. Since a degree in nursing is not a requirement for registration as a nurse and subsequent employment, such a qualification would be an optional post-registration qualification. Members of the nursing profession wishing to undertake a nursing degree programme, therefore, are responsible for making their own arrangements, including the payment of course fees. I am not in a position to provide funding for these courses.
As the Deputy will be aware, the whole area of pre-registration nursing education and training was examined in depth by the Commission on Nursing. The commission recommended that the future framework for the pre-registration education of nurses should be based on a four-year degree programme in each of the disciplines of general, psychiatric and mental handicap nursing, approved by An Bord Altranais, which will encompass clinical placements, including 12 months continuous clinical placement as a paid employee of the health service. The commission envisaged that the start of the academic year in 2002 would be specified as the commencement date of the proposed new degree programme.
As a first step, the commission recommended that a representative nursing education forum be established to prepare a strategy for moving pre-registration nursing education and training to a four-year degree programme in time for the intake of nursing students in 2002. I have established this forum which is chaired by Dr. Laraine Joyce, deputy director of the Office for Health Management. It includes representatives of the schools of nursing, health service providers, third level institutions and An Bord Altranais. A majority of the members of the forum are members of the nursing profession. The forum held its first meeting on 10 February and is proceeding with its work.
The provision of funding for an undergraduate degree course in nursing, similar to that being provided at the National University of Ireland, Galway, would not improve the current situation vis-à-vis the shortage of nurses. In fact, it would have the opposite effect. As I stated earlier, successful completion by a student of the three-year nursing diploma programme leads to registration as a nurse with An Bord Altranais, at which point he or she will become eligible for employment as a nurse. A further year of studies would reduce the number of nurses available for employment and only serve to exacerbate the current problems the agencies have in relation to the recruitment of nurses.
The Commission on Nursing considered this difficulty when making its decision regarding the introduction of the four-year degree programme for nurses. It was for this reason it proposed that the third year of the degree course would be a 12 months continuous clinical placement as a paid employee of the health service. It should also be noted that the commission emphasised that the proposed new degree programme should not commence before the start of the academic year in 2002.
