Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 April 2004
292 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Health and Children if, in view of the shortage of nursing staff and the limited intake for student nursing placement in the State, there is assistance available to students to complete nurse training courses in Britain. [10535/04]
View answerIn addressing the issue of nursing staff shortages, I refer the Deputy to the latest quarterly survey of nursing vacancies by the Health Service Employers Agency, HSEA, which is for the year ending 31 December 2003. The survey shows that there were 994 extra nurses employed in the health service in the year ending 31 December 2003. It also indicates that the vacancy rate now stands at 1.73% nationally, which is the lowest rate recorded since the surveys began. Moreover, the current vacancy rate of 1.73% could be considered to be a normal frictional rate, given that there will always be some level of movement due to resignations, retirements and nurses availing of opportunities to change employment and location.
In 1997, there were 25,233 whole-time equivalent nurses employed in the public health system. By the end of September 2003 this figure had reached 33,442. This is an increase of over 8,200 during the period or 32.5%. These figures highlight the effectiveness of the measures which the Government has undertaken in recent years regarding the recruitment and retention of nurses. Among the most significant of these measures is the increase in the number of nursing training places by 70% since 1998. There are now a total of 1,640 undergraduate training places per annum. This increase in training places will ensure a high and steady number of nursing graduates entering the health service in the future.
I have made inquiries of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Noel Dempsey, in respect of financial assistance for students undertaking nurse training courses in the UK. Under his Department's higher education grant scheme, maintenance grants are available to eligible students pursuing approved undergraduate courses in other EU member states, including the UK. In general, approved courses are those pursued in a third level institution which is maintained or assisted by recurrent grants from public funds.
Students attending approved courses in other EU member states are subject to the same conditions of funding as students attending approved courses in the relevant State. The main conditions of funding relate to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. In addition, tax relief on tuition fees is available in respect of approved courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level in other EU member states.
In recent years, the UK authorities introduced a number of changes in the financial support arrangements for students pursuing courses at further and higher education institutions. This included the introduction of an annual tuition fee for students entering further and higher education institutions for the first time from the 1998-99 academic year and the replacement of maintenance grants by student loans to be phased in from that year also. All EU students, including those from Ireland, are eligible for grant assistance towards the tuition fee, subject to the same conditions as apply to UK students.
