Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 31 Jan 2001

Vol. 529 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Specialist Nursing Courses.

Mr. Farrelly

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me raise this matter. A principal officer in the Department of Health and Children announced on behalf of the Minister a new initiative on 29 November 2000 concerning funding for specialist nursing courses. Under the initiative a nurse or midwife undertaking certain specialist courses should receive full pay while doing so. The announcement stated that "he or she will also be entitled to have his or her fees paid in full for this course". This is in return for a commitment on the part of the nurse or midwife to continue working within the public health service in the specialist area for one year following completion of the course.

I received a letter from a nurse which states:

I am currently undertaking a higher diploma in orthopaedic nursing in Cappagh Hospital, Finglas, which is affiliated to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. This course is of 15 months duration and involves working on a full-time basis as a regional general nurse on orthopaedic wards while simultaneously attending college. This course is subject to a fee of £1,600 and a reduction in salary to the first point on the staff nursing scale.

Because the individual wants to do the course and improve her eligibility, she will have a loss of earnings of £8,000 while attending the course. She recently became aware of the circular relating to the announcement made by the Department. I agree with her that the decision taken clearly lacks equality at a time when everybody should be treated the same.

I ask the Minister to rectify this situation. Over the years I have met a number of nurses who had serious difficulty in getting off work to do courses such as this to improve their ability in specialist care. Given the money available and the fact that there are not thousands doing such courses, a person should not be asked to pay a fee and work at the same time and take a drop in their pay scale. In fairness, as the nurse who wrote the letter said, equality should be the order of the day.

The Minister likes to ensure people get fair play and in my dealings with him on committees he has ensured this over recent years. I ask him to consider what I am suggesting and to take these people into consideration.

Mr. Martin

I thank Deputy Farrelly for raising this issue. On 29 November last I announced details of a £5 million package of incentives aimed at attracting nurses and midwives back to work, retaining nurses and midwives in the public health service and addressing shortages in specialist areas. As part of the initiative I made funding available for nursing courses in specified specialised areas of clinical practice in order to address the critical shortage of nurses in those areas. In particular, I provided funding for the establishment of new courses in hospitals outside Dublin, including the Cork hospitals and Water ford and Limerick regional hospitals. This is being done in order to arrest the drift of specialist nurses from the acute Dublin hospitals. The availability of new programmes in hospitals around the country will free up places in the Dublin hospitals which can be allocated to Dublin based nurses.

Under the initiative nurses or midwives undertaking certain specialist courses will receive full pay while doing so. They will also be entitled to have their fees paid in full. This is in return for a commitment on the part of the nurses or midwives to continue working within the public health service in the specialist area for one year following completion of the course. These arrangements are effective from the current academic year and will apply to post-registration courses in the following areas of clinical practice: accident and emergency; critical care, including intensive care, coronary care and burns; and peri-operative, including peri-anaesthesia, operating theatre and operating department.

I am aware that the initiative does not cover all specialist courses and that nurses or midwives undertaking courses not included in this initiative often do so at their own expense. However, the areas included in the initiative have been identified as those where the shortage of specialist nurses is most acute.

Mr. Farrelly

There is a shortage of nurses everywhere.

Mr. Martin

It was for that reason that I decided to concentrate the resources available to me in the current year on those areas. Therefore, we were moving in particular areas where significant shortages were identified. However, I assure the Deputy I will continue to monitor the situation and that I will ask the Department to monitor the situation in the context of service needs. We will examine the situation raised by the Deputy.

I am sure the House will commend the progress made by me and the Department in supporting nurses and midwives generally. As part of my overall recruitment and retention strategy, I have introduced the following financial support for nurses and midwives undertaking post-registration educational courses, at an annual cost of some £9 million: payment of fees to nurses and midwives undertaking part-time nursing and certain other undergraduate degree courses; an improved scheme of financial support for student public health nurses; an enhanced financial support package for student midwives and student paediatric nurses; payment of fees and enhanced salary to nurses and midwives undertaking specific courses in specialised areas of clinical practice; and the abolition of fees for "back to prac tice" courses and payment of salary to nurses and midwives undertaking such courses.

This is in addition to the £8.5 million which was allocated to the health agencies for continuing nurse education between 1994 and 1999. Individual nurses and midwives who are not eligible for funding under the schemes announced by me may apply to their employers for funding from the separate continuing nurse education budget available to their employers. That is something that could be taken up by the nurse in question but on the point raised, I will have a look at it again in the context of future and interim need.