Under the GMS scheme, a subsidy is available to GPs towards the cost of employing a practice nurse, provided the nurse is currently registered on the General Nurses Division or the Public Health Nurses Division of the Register of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI).
Practice nurses carry out a wide range of patient care under the direction of the GP, such as vaccinations, skin and wound care, health promotion and lifestyle advice and general nursing duties. Practice nurses who are also registered midwives are able within their scope of practice to undertake antenatal care, provided they are competent to do so.
The Nurses and Midwives Act 2011 recognises midwifery as a separate and distinct profession to nursing. There are no plans to amend the eligibility criteria for the payment of the practice nurse subsidy.
The National Maternity Strategy represents a significant development in the delivery of national maternity policy that will fundamentally change how maternity care is delivered in Ireland. Implementation of the Strategy is being driven by the National Women & Infants Health Programme, which was established in the HSE to lead the management, organisation and delivery of maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services across primary, community and acute care.
The Strategy is clear that midwifery led care should be expanded and enhanced. In that regard, Budget 2021 provides funding that will help to further develop community-based midwifery services and will see specific focus on enhanced midwifery care for women across the three pathways of care (Supported, Assisted & Specialised). As a priority, the development of community-based midwifery services will enable women to avail of care in the community, and at home, at the lowest level of complexity, reducing the requirement for attendance in acute hospital settings.
