In the course of the expert review group on certain allied health professions, employers acknowledged that there are recruitment difficulties with a number of professions, including social workers, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and orthodontists. Officials of my Department have already met with many of the heads of these schools and are currently planning a manpower planning exercise to address these difficulties.
In relation to orthodontists, the medical manpower forum is currently looking at some of the staffing difficulties at present surrounding consultants in our hospitals and an interim report is expected in the near future.
The National Social Work Qualifications Board has begun a manpower planning initiative in relation to social workers, the results of which are expected by the end of this year. This report will recommend how best to address the current recruitment difficulties in social work, and these recommendations will be followed up by both my Department and the Department of Education and Science.
A manpower planning exercise in under way under the auspices of the review of psychology services group and is addressing the matter in both the short term and medium term. This group hopes to be in a position to enter into discussions with the training colleges early next year.
Following talks between the joint committee for medical laboratory sciences and my Department in relation to medical laboratory technicians, it was agreed that from October 1999 the number of entrants to the three approved courses in Ireland would be increased by 20 per annum in total. As the course is of four years duration, these extra graduates will not be available to the market until 2003.
To address the short-term difficulties, additional student placements have been agreed with some of the teaching hospitals and from October 1999 ten or 12 trainee medical laboratory technician posts are being offered to students who have an approved biomedical science degree, but whose practical experience is deemed to be insufficient. These trainee positions were advertised in the national press, and the joint committee has met to allocate these posts.
A new course in physiotherapy has been established by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and took in its first graduates in October 1999, 20 in total. This course is being accredited by the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists.
An additional 300 places have been made available for students in the third level institutes and universities for nursing registration and diplomas.
