Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 March 2024
752. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Health in light of the Department of Health Circular 4/2023 issued to the HSE on 27 February 2023, if a case for student accommodation (details supplied) will be refunded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10636/24]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, following approval by Government on 13 December 2022, I was pleased to announce €9 million in additional supports for student nurses and midwives. €5.4m of this funding provides for an enhanced Travel and Subsistence Scheme for eligible students in publicly funded undergraduate nursing and midwifery courses while attending their supernumerary clinical practice placements. Supernumerary students in midwifery, general, combined children's and general, intellectual disability and psychiatric nursing all have the same entitlement.
The Department of Health Circular 4/2023 issued to the HSE on 27 February 2023, set out revised arrangements to apply. This scheme provides a targeted and more equitable approach to supporting these students and its main features are set out hereunder: -
• Eligible student nurses and midwives in years 1 to 3 of their studies will each receive €500 per year as a targeted measure to contribute towards meeting the extra costs of meals associated with practice placements outside the student’s core placement site;
• a new rate of €80 for overnight accommodation along with an increased weekly cap of €300, (for those eligible supernumerary students who require accommodation away from their normal place of residence while attending practice placements). This weekly cap is almost six times the previous cap and three times the cap introduced on 1st January 2022;
• supernumerary students requiring overnight accommodation will also be able to avail of, on a vouched basis, the reasonable cost of uniform laundry services;
• supernumerary students on the undergraduate nursing/midwifery programme continue to be entitled to claim for payment of travel expenses necessarily incurred while attending placements, on the basis of receipts provided by the student and certified by the Student Allocation Liaison Officer (SALO) in the clinical partner site. Public transport should be used wherever possible. Where public transport is not available and the use of private transport is necessary to attend placements, a supernumerary student is entitled to claim for payment of these necessarily incurred travel expenses. These should be paid on the same basis as that which applies generally in the public sector.
• the enhanced Travel and Subsistence Scheme is backdated to the start of the 2022/2023 academic year, and additional once off funding of €2.4m was allocated to cover arrears arising from September to December 2022.
Payment of allowances to eligible students is a priority for me. I would like these payments to students, particularly those in respect of the 2022/2023 academic year, to have been made long ago. While the HSE has advised that payments have commenced in a number of areas, I remain concerned at the slow pace of payments. I have therefore asked my Department to pursue the matter with the HSE and keep me informed.
In relation to the question asked by the Deputy, payments to eligible students covered by Circular 4/2023 are a matter for the HSE and individual hospitals and I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy on this issue.
