Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 June 2016
99. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Health the progress being made to date on the European Commission proposal to establish a common training framework for health care assistants; the input his Department has had in this; the actions that have been taken to date; his plans and proposals in respect of registration, ongoing training, budget for recruitment and accountability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13712/16]
View answerI understand that the Health Service Executive has been involved in Ireland’s participation in the European Commission Project on ‘Support for the definition of core competences of health care assistants’. A workshop took place in early April 2016 at which Ireland was represented by a senior manager from the Nursing Midwifery Planning and Development unit in the HSE. The HSE has contributed to the research being conducted by this Group through its questionnaire responses since the initiation of the project. One of the core themes for the research project is the consideration of registration for Health Care Assistants (HCAs). The final report of this EU group will be published in September 2016.
My Department is looking at setting up a working group with an independent Chair to undertake a root and branch review of the role and function of the HCA. The work of this group will examine issues such as qualification requirements, ongoing training needs, standardisation of job descriptions across the health system and whether there is a requirement for HCAs to be registered.
