Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
1466. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to ensure that Ukrainians with medical qualifications are assisted with their registration for relevant professional bodies; the engagements he has had with said bodies; if dedicated helplines have been established; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19711/22]
View answerMy Department has been in regular contact with the health professional regulators with a view to ensuring that any practitioners arriving here from Ukraine can be assisted and facilitated in gaining access to the professional registers where possible.
Officials have been working closely with the Medical Council in recent weeks to examine the ways in which support can be provided to doctors arriving from Ukraine and the Council has established an internal working group to explore and address the issues that arise. The Council is working directly with key stakeholders in the HSE, Postgraduate Training Bodies and the Irish Medical Schools Council and discussions with these partners are ongoing.
The HSE, through the National doctors training programme (NDTP), in partnership with the Medical Council and the Postgraduate Training Bodies, is coordinating an information gathering process that will collate basic information about healthcare professionals who are coming to Ireland from Ukraine. This data collection process is ongoing and will assist the relevant bodies in supporting these doctors and enable them to contact the individual doctors directly. The HSE is also looking at other options which these doctors can avail of while registration is pending, such as medical translation and access to CPD resources.
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) will ensure that as many Ukrainian applicants as possible can be fully supported to achieve recognition and registration, while at all times consistent to the organisation’s primary functions which are to protect the public and protect the integrity of the professions. The NMBI has engaged with the RCSI, my Department and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and other key stakeholders to develop an interim-orientation course to address any gaps identified during the recognition of nurses and midwives coming from Ukraine e.g. incomplete or missing transcripts of education.
This orientation course would be a once-off course for approximately 3 months, including some supernumerary clinical placement time, providing orientation to nursing in Ireland. However, it should be noted that not every Ukrainian applicant would be suitable for the programme, for example, those that do not have sufficient levels of occupational English to safely undertake the supernumerary placements. Guidance documents are also being translated into Ukrainian to support applicants in the process.
CORU, the body responsible for the regulation of certain Health and Social Care Professionals, is providing information for Ukrainian applicants on its website including a dedicated email address for queries.
I have been advised by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) that any application from an individual holding a qualification as a pharmacist obtained in the Ukraine would have the application considered under the third country recognition route via the PSI. This would involve assessment for recognition through the third country process.
The Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC), the independent statutory body who sets the standards for education and training for pre-hospital emergency care in Ireland, have also recently been involved in a number of meetings with DFHERIS and the Professional Regulators Forum and the Health Care Regulators Forum. PHECC also plans to include registration information in Ukrainian on its website.
Several of the regulators have established direct contact with the Ukrainian Embassy and the Ambassador has kindly offered the support of the Embassy in acting as a liaison with Ukrainian authorities. It is expected that some practitioners arriving from Ukraine will face difficulties in providing all the necessary documentation associated with their undergraduate education and post qualification experience as a practitioner. However, the Ukrainian Embassy in Dublin can verify or re-issue expired identification documents of Ukrainian nationals.
Officials from my Department will continue to liaise with the various relevant bodies to ensure that as many Ukrainian applicants as possible can be fully supported to achieve recognition and registration where possible, mindful at all times of the importance of maintaining and promoting patient safety.
