Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2023
341. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health to provide on update on the Programme for Government commitment on the development of the role of advanced nurse practitioners in older person services and chronic disease management, since the establishment of the current Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33314/23]
View answerAs the Deputy points out there is a Programme for Government commitment to develop the role of advanced nurse practitioners in older person services and chronic disease management.
Advanced Nurse / Midwife Practitioners (ANMPs) provide complete episodes of care and timely access to healthcare and earlier interventions. Creating a critical mass of advanced practitioners will contribute effectively and efficiently to addressing population health needs and has demonstrated improved patient experience, reduced waiting times and reduced admissions to hospitals. ANMPs contribute to service reform by providing the right care, at the right time, and in the right place.
Government has invested heavily in Advanced Practice for Nurses and Midwives, particularly since the publication of the Policy on the Development of Graduate to Advanced Nursing and Midwifery Practice for Nurses and Midwives (Department of Health, 2019). The role of ANMPs and the allocation of ANMPs across the various service areas is aligned with policy priorities. This includes Chronic Disease Management and Older Persons Services.
In 2020, 52 new ANP posts were created. Of these, 12 were allocated to Older Persons Services and a further 16 to Chronic Disease Management. In November 2021, I decided to increase the number of nurses and midwives practicing at an advanced level across the health service from 2% of the workforce to 3%, a 50% increase.
In 2022, I allocated €11m to the HSE to recruit 149 ANMPs, of which 12 ANPs were allocated to Chronic Disease Management and 15 to Integrated Care Programme for Older Persons.
In 2023, I announced the creation of a further 80 ANMP posts. The HSE is now in the process of allocating and recruiting for these posts. 27 are being allocated to Chronic Disease Management, 10 are being allocated to Older Persons. The table below sets out the total number of new ANP posts allocated to Older Persons Services and Chronic Disease Management since 2020.
New ANP posts since 2020 for Older Persons Services and Chronic Disease Management
|
Older Persons Services |
Chronic Disease Management |
|
|
2020 |
12 |
16 |
|
2022 |
15 |
12 |
|
2023 |
12 |
27 |
|
Total |
39 |
55 |
The HSE advise that currently there are 951 WTE Advanced Nurse and Midwife Practitioners in the workforce. Within the Older Persons service there are currently 104 ANP posts, which consists of 52 posts in Acute services, 52 posts in Community services and 11 posts in Mental Health Psychiatry of Later Life. For Chronic Disease Management there are currently 78 ANP posts, which consists of 62 Acute posts, 16 Community posts and in addition to the above, Intellectual Disability Services have 7 ANP posts to manage chronic disease management.
These numbers will be added to when the allocated 37 posts for 2023 take up post in September 2023.
