Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 December 2021
272. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the number of approved undergraduate places, first year intake, and final year graduates, graduate output, for speech and language therapy in each of the past five years in tabular form; his plans for increasing graduate output in this field; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60925/21]
View answer273. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the number of approved postgraduate places, first year intake, and final year graduates, graduate output, for speech and language therapy in each of the past five years in tabular form; his plans for increasing graduate output in this field; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60926/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 272 and 273 together.
Data on new entrants and graduates from all physiotherapy related courses between from 2017 to 2020 are available in the table below. Due to the way new entrants are recorded, undergraduate new entrants refer to full-time students only. There is no quota placed on speech and language therapy by my Department, and therefore the places offered are a matter for the higher education institutions, in line with their autonomy. However due to need to provide clinical placements involved there are material constraints on the number of students that can be accepted onto speech and language therapy courses.
|
Year |
Course Level |
New Entrants |
Graduates |
|
2017 |
Undergraduate |
87 |
74 |
|
2017 |
Postgraduate |
30 |
28 |
|
2018 |
Undergraduate |
89 |
79 |
|
2018 |
Postgraduate |
30 |
29 |
|
2019 |
Undergraduate |
89 |
82 |
|
2019 |
Postgraduate |
34 |
21 |
|
2020 |
Undergraduate |
88 |
97 |
|
2020 |
Postgraduate |
28 |
22 |
The matter of health workforce planning and ensuring an appropriate pipeline of qualified healthcare workers within Ireland is a major priority for my Department. The Programme for Government commits the Department of Health to working with the education sectors, regulators, and professional bodies to improve the availability of health professionals and reform their training to support integrated care across the entire health service. My Department and I are continuing to engage with the Department of Health and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that we can continue to deliver graduates with the skills necessary to support our healthcare system and support the strategic workforce planning by the health sector.
