Vol. 550 No. 4
338 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Health and Children the situation regarding State registered nurses wishing to take up nursing positions in the area of mental handicap; and the requirements laid down by his Department in this regard. [8440/02]
I presume the Deputy is referring to registered general nurses working in the intellectual disability sector. All registered general nurses are eligible to work in the intellectual disability sector. My Department has no specific requirements in this regard. While it is always preferable to employ registered mental handicap nurses, the current shortage of such nurses has led to an increase in the number of registered general nurses working in the sector. To coincide with the introduction of the new pre-registration nursing degree programme this year the Government has provided funding for an additional 93 places annually including 20 mental handicap places at both Letterkenny Institute of Technology with the North-Western Health Board and Waterford Institute of Technology with the South-Eastern Health Board.
A total of 1,640 places will be available nationally from this year on the new degree programmes, including 240 mental handicap nursing places. This is an all-time record and is a key element of my overall strategy for ensuring that we produce sufficient nurses to staff our health services into the future. The Deputy will be interested to note the huge rise in the number of people who have applied through the CAO for places on the new degree programme. This year 8,882 applicants applied, a 35% increase on last year's figure. This is most encouraging and reflects the high level of interest in nursing as a career. It is also a resounding endorsement of the national and local campaign undertaken by the Nursing Careers Centre and health agencies which were funded by my Department.
