Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 May 2004
189 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of hospital consultants currently needed throughout the country; his plans to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15961/04]
View answerThe report of the national task force on medical staffing makes recommendations regarding the number of consultants that will be required in each speciality and sub-specialty over the next ten years. It proposes a doubling of total numbers by the year 2013. In January 2000 there were 1,440 consultants in the public system. By 1 January 2004 this had increased by 26% to 1,824 consultants. The task force proposes that this should rise again to some 3,000 posts by 2009 and to some 3,600 by 2013. These increases are recommended as part of a consultant provided service, which would replace the present largely consultant led system.
190 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the extent to which the full compliment of nursing staff requirement is deficient in the various hospitals or health boards throughout the country; his plans to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15962/04]
View answerThe Health Service Employers Agency, HSEA, undertakes quarterly surveys of nursing vacancies, the latest of which is for the year ending 31 December, 2003. A copy of this survey, which contains a breakdown by hospital or health board and voluntary agency, will be forwarded directly to the Deputy. While all sectors reported that recruitment was well ahead of resignations and retirements, employers reported that 675 vacancies existed at 31 December 2003, a decrease from 1,021 vacancies in December 2002. However, the combination of utilising agency nurses and overtime adequately compensates for this shortfall.
Since the surveys began, the number of vacancies as at 31 December 2003 is the lowest recorded. The highest number was at the end of September 2000, when employers reported 1,388 vacancies. The latest figure represents a reduction of 51% on September 2000. The current vacancy rate of 1.73% has been declining steadily in recent years, and 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 locations.
The recruitment and retention of adequate numbers of nursing staff has been a concern of this Government for some time, and a number of substantial measures have been introduced in recent years. The number of nursing training places has been increased by 70% since 1998 to 1,640 from 2002 onwards. A comprehensive range of financial supports have been introduced to support nurses in pursuing part-time degrees and specialist courses, including "back to practice" courses. Since 1998 nurses have been paid for overtime. Previously they had been given time off in lieu and the introduction of payment represents a further significant financial incentive for nurses.
I introduced a scheme of flexible working arrangements for nurses and midwives in February 2001. Under the scheme, individual nurses and midwives may apply to work between eight and 39 hours per week on a permanent, part-time basis. The figure of 33,765 whole-time equivalent nurses working in the health service translates into 40,119 individual nurses. Of these, some 29,629 work full-time, and 10,490 work job-sharing or other atypical patterns. Thus, over one quarter of the nursing workforce avails of family-friendly work patterns. In 1997, there were 27,347 whole-time equivalent nurses employed in the public health system. By the end of December 2003 this figure had reached 33,765. This is an increase of over 6,400 during the period or23.4%. It is clear from these figures that the recruitment and retention measures I introduced are proving very effective.
The promotional structure within nursing, including the introduction of a clinical career pathway, has been substantially improved on foot of the recommendations of the commission on nursing and the 1999 nurses' pay settlement. The National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery has been especially active in this area and, to date, 1,544 clinical nurse specialist and advanced nurse practitioner posts have been created.
Figures from An Bord Altranais for the same period indicate that there is a steady stream of new entrants into the profession, over and above those graduating from the Irish system, thus further increasing the potential recruitment pool. Since 1998, the total number of nurses newly registered by An Bord Altranais is 19,945. Of this number, 13,658 were overseas nurses. The continuing attractiveness of nursing as a career for school leavers and mature code applicants alike is clearly evident from the number of applicants for such courses. For example, there are 8,300 applications for 1,640 places in the autumn 2004 intake. This is most encouraging, given that there is an ever-increasing array of attractive alternatives provided by our third level education system.
My Department recently gave approval to the roll out, on a national basis, of the health care assistant training programme. This is in fulfilment of a key recommendation of the commission on nursing. The main objective of the programme is to upskill health care assistants so that, working under the supervision of nurses, they are enabled to take on a wider range of duties, thereby freeing up nursing resources to concentrate on exclusively nursing tasks. The HSEA surveys I referred to earlier also contain data in relation to the use of agency nurses. The average number of agency nurses used per day in 2001, 2002 and 2003 was 434, 401 and 312, respectively. These figures demonstrate a continuous and substantial downward trend in the use of agency nurses.
I am confident that the extensive range of measures I have outlined, including the substantial increase in training places, the recruitment of overseas nurses, the more effective utilisation of the professional skills of nurses and midwives, in addition to close monitoring and assessment of the situation on an ongoing basis, will continue to prove effective in addressing the nursing workforce needs of the health services.
