Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2021
1656. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health his plans to pay student nurses and midwives; when the second review of the first report on pandemic pay will be conducted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14987/21]
View answerThere are two different categories of placement for nursing and midwifery students. The first is a supernumerary placement for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students in their first semester with a healthcare provider, where students are not counted within the funded staffing allocation. Fundamentally, nursing and midwifery students, while on supernumerary clinical placements (which refers to the students being surplus to the rostered complement of nurses or midwives while on placement) are being educated. In line with Directive 2013/55/EU, this education is carried out on the frontline, as part of a team, across the wide variety of care settings and under supervision. That supervision is provided by qualified, experienced nurses and midwives called preceptors. Those student nurses and midwives can claim vouched travel and accommodation allowances to support them while undergoing such placements in line with HSE Circular 09/2004.
I fully support the continued protection of the student nurse/midwife programme of which supernumerary placements are a key component. Changing the supernumerary status of those placements to that of an employee would remove those educational protections that enable such students to learn, unencumbered by an employment contract.
The second category of placement is a 36-week internship for final-year student nurses and midwives, for which they are considered a 0.5 Whole Time Equivalent member of the workforce and for which they are already paid a salary. Following a 2% pay increase on 1 October 2020, the annualised salary for this group is now €21,749 (or €10.72 per hour) for general nursing and midwifery students and €22,229 (€10.96 per hour) for psychiatric nursing students. I also fully support the continuation of the paid work internship programme in fourth year that is in place for student nurses and midwives.
I know that the pandemic has presented challenges to student nurses and midwives to continue with such placements. In recognising this and to further assist student nurses and midwives while on clinical placement, I appointed Professor Tom Collins to carry out an independent review of clinical placement allowances and I received his report on 31 December 2020. The key recommendation in his Report is to implement a ‘Pandemic Placement Grant’ of €100 for each supernumerary placement week during the pandemic. I am keen to progress this additional support, with the agreement of key stakeholder groups involved in education, nursing, and midwifery. Engagement is ongoing with the representative unions on this matter and I am hopeful agreement can be reached shortly.
A second, longer-term review is also planned to examine the existing accommodation and travel allowances payable to student nurses and midwives on supernumerary clinical placement, and pay for 4th-year nurses and midwives on paid internship placement. Preparatory work has commenced on this review. My Department are currently engaging with the stakeholders, including the trade unions, on finalising the terms of reference for this review and I look forward to that review progressing with its work soon.
