Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 June 2022
397. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health the precise workforce planning that is being undertaken and the liaison with other Departments in order to ensure an adequate number of training places to cater for future projected need, in view of the shortage of suitably qualified healthcare staff across all disciplines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28737/22]
View answerOfficials from my Department engage on an ongoing basis with colleagues in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that we train enough graduates with the skills necessary to support the delivery of health and social care services and to develop a strategic approach to workforce planning for the health sector.
Ongoing discussions between both Departments are in relation to increasing domestic supply on health-related courses in the short term to medium term, through the immediate provision of additional places, and the longer-term planning being undertaken around future skills needs in the context of future demand for health and social care services.
Health and Social Care workforce planning and ensuring an appropriate pipeline of suitably qualified healthcare professionals is a top priority for me, and for my department. These additional places will be targeted at areas of acute skills need and will include places on health-related courses such as medicine nursing and other health and social care professions.
This work is at an advanced stage, and it is hoped that a significant number of additional places will be provided by the Higher Education Institutions on health-related courses in September 2022.
