Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 2 Jul 1998

Vol. 493 No. 5

Written Answers. - Nursing Staff.

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

165 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Health and Children the difficulties, if any, health boards and hospitals have in recruiting nurses; the number of vacant nursing posts; the steps, if any, which he is taking to deal with this problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16765/98]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen)

I refer the Deputy to my comprehensive reply to a previous question on this issue given on 16 June 1998.

As the Deputy will be aware, the recruitment of nurses is primarily a matter for the individual employers. Consequently, the data the Deputy requests regarding the number of vacant nursing posts is not immediately available to the Department. However, the Department is aware that difficulties in recruiting nurses are being experienced by the major acute hospitals and for specialist areas in particular.

I have asked my officials to keep the overall issue of the availability of nurses under review and to examine with health service employers whether any special initiatives are required in relation to recruitment. The Department plans to engage a nurse researcher in the coming months who will be specifically employed to research nursing manpower needs over the coming years.

The availability of nurses will also be examined in the context of the report of the Commission on Nursing — if it is the case that some of the tasks undertaken by nurses are inappropriate to nurses and can be undertaken by other grades of staff, as seems likely from the commission's interim report, issues relating to the availability of nurses must be viewed in that light. It will be necessary to review this very valuable resource to ensure that nurses are not used inappropriately for non-nursing duties.