Vol. 566 No. 5
100 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Health and Children when he intends to establish direct posts in each health board following the report of the joint review group, Outside Colleges Career Structures, published in May 2002; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13261/03]
101 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Health and Children when he intends to establish principal posts in each community care area following the report of the joint review group, Outside Colleges Career Structures, published in May 2002. [13262/03]
102 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Health and Children the way in which he intends to ensure a significant reduction in the number of vacancies in the psychological services in the mid term following the report of the joint review group, Outside Colleges Career Structures, published in May 2002. [13263/03]
103 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Health and Children when his commitment to bring the number of training places to 50 a year will be met following the report of the joint review group, Outside Colleges Career Structures, published in May 2002; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13264/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 to 103 together.
I presume the report referred to by the Deputy is that of the joint review group on psychological services in the health services, which was published in March 2002. Following the report's publication a major priority for my Department was to promote an integrated and co-ordinated approach by the health boards to its implementation over time. This applied in particular to the major recommendations of the report relating to the organisation and management of psychology services, entailing very substantial increases in the number of principal and director level psychologist posts.
Given the key role of the Health Boards Executive in fostering collective working and progressing organisational change and development in the health service, my Department secured the agreement of the executive to work with the directors of human resources in the health boards towards the implementation of the recommendations of the report. The present position is that the directors of human resources are in the process of individually considering the recommendations in the report and how their boards might propose to proceed with the implementation process in due course. This work is being undertaken in light of: service imperatives; funding priorities; and the budget 2003 announcement on public service numbers.
In this context, it is important to bear in mind that the overall budgetary and economic position in 2003 has had important implications for all aspects of public spending, and this is reflected in the Estimates and budget adopted by Government for 2003.
Given these constraints, my Department, together with the directors of human resources in the health boards, is prioritising support for the implementation of a key recommendation of the joint review group's report relating to human resource planning through the provision of a substantial number of additional post-graduate training places in clinical psychology. This has resulted in a threefold increase from end-1999 to end-2002, from 26 to 83, in the number of trainee clinical psychologists employed in the health services. This development, in enhancing graduate output, will help maintain an improved balance between demand and supply in human resource and service provision.
My Department remains committed to working on an ongoing basis, with health agencies, educational providers and the education authorities to ensure adequate provision of training places in clinical psychology, consistent with the medium-term human resource requirements of the health services as detailed in the joint review group's report and the important recommendations on investment in training and education detailed in the Action Plan for People Management, published in November 2002.
