asked the Minister for Health who is going to take responsibility for ensuring that living accommodation will be available for trained nursing staff and for student nurses.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Nurses' Living Accommodation.
16.
The question of living accommodation for trained nursing staff and for student nurses in hospitals is a matter in the first instance for the particular hospital authorities, both local authority and voluntary, involved and for my Department in its overall responsibility for the operation of the health services generally.
Arrangements for the accommodation of nurses, whether in a nurses' home or in accommodation outside the hospital, vary between hospitals and depend on the particular circumstances in each case. Many nurses by their own choice live outside the hospital, either in their own homes or in other accommodation.
Hospital authorities do not, of course, accept responsibility for the provision of living-out accommodation for trained nurses. In deciding the extent to which accommodation will be provided within the confines of a hospital, regard is had to the wishes of the staff and the availability of living-out accommodation in the immediate locality of the hospital. An important factor is the availability of space on the hospital site in which accommodation can be provided. In some instances, the lack of this space has forced the situation where nurses' accommodation has been provided adjacent to but outside the confines of the hospital.
Generally speaking, it is the practice to accommodate junior student nurses in the hospital whilst undergoing training.
Could the Minister tell us who will take the responsibility of providing accommodation for nurses under the new Health Act?
We have made very considerable progress in this regard. Some 2,061 places for living-in accommodation have been provided or are in course of planning by the local authorities and voluntary hospitals in the country. Every year more accommodation is being provided for nurses.