Frances Fitzgerald
Question:730 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health and Children the action he will take to deal with the nursing shortages in Dublin. [2359/01]
Written Answers. - Nursing Staff.
Nurse staffing difficulties largely relate to the greater Dublin area. Indications are that the situation is improving in this area following recent recruitment initiatives and as recruitment of nurses from abroad begins to pay dividends.
The Health Service Employers Agency – HSEA – is undertaking a survey of nursing vacancies at 31 January 2001 which should confirm these indications.
Nationally, action is being taken across a number of fronts to try to improve the situation. For example:
New arrangements have been introduced to give better starting pay to nurses taking up employment by giving full recognition for previous experience at home and abroad.
Standardised overtime working arrangements have been introduced.
A significantly improved regime of allowance in respect of nurses working in specialised areas has been introduced.
The Commission on Nursing recommended that the Department of Health and Children, health service providers and nursing organisations examine the development of appropriate systems to determine nursing staffing levels and the opportunities for increased use of care assistants and other non-nursing staff. Both of these recommendations are being addressed by a joint committee representative of nursing unions and health service employers. A separate working party to establish standard criteria in relation to education and training of care assistants has also been convened.
The promotional structure within nursing, including the introduction of a clinical career pathway, is being significantly improved on foot of the recommendations of the Commission on Nursing and the 1999 nurses' pay settlement.
A major new recruitment and retention initiative, costing in excess of £5 million, was launched by me on 29 November 2000 to address the present shortage of nurses and midwives. A new scheme of flexible working arrangements for nurses and midwives in the public health service will come into operation on 1 February. Under the scheme, individual nurses and midwives may apply to work between eight and 39 hours per week on a permanent part-time basis.
As part of my overall recruitment/retention strategy, I have introduced the following financial support for nurses and midwives undertaking post-registration educational courses: payment of fees to nurses/midwives undertaking part-time nursing and certain other undergraduate degree courses; improved scheme of financial support for student public health nurses; enhanced financial support package for student midwives and student paediatric nurses; payment of fees and enhanced salary to nurses/midwives undertaking specific courses in specialised areas of clinical practice; abolition of fees for "back-to-practice" courses and payment of salary to nurses/midwives undertaking such courses.
An advertising campaign aimed at attracting nurses back into the workforce and at attracting nurses back to Ireland ran from 30 November to 31 December 2000. This generated a significant number of inquiries.
The number of nursing training places has been increased by 300 to 1,500 until at least 2002. A further 20 places have been filled on a new direct entry midwifery programme which has been introduced on a pilot basis. Over 1,500 nursing students started training in October 2000 with record intakes to both psychiatric and mental handicap nursing. In order to increase the number of general nursing training places in Dublin, funding has been provided to St. Michael's Hospital, Dún Laoghaire, to commence the pre-registration nursing diploma programme this autumn with an annual intake of 40 students.
My Department is engaged in strategic planning through the study of the nursing and midwifery resource. The focus of this work is on longer term planning. The primary objective of the study is to forecast, as far as is possible, future nursing and midwifery workforce needs. An interim report was published in October 2000 and widely circulated within the health services. My £5 million recruitment/retention initiative of 29 November last was an immediate response to a number of the report's recommendations.
Arrangements for the establishment of a working group to look specifically at the situation in the Dublin area are almost finalised. This group will examine factors affecting the recruitment and retention of nursing and midwifery staff in the Dublin area and recommend innovative ways in which the situation might be improved.
These initiatives represent a very significant effort to improve the situation. In the longer term, it is hoped that the substantial increase in the number of student places will provide enough registered nurses to fill all vacancies.