Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 21 Nov 2000

Vol. 526 No. 3

Written Answers. - Health Professionals.

Nora Owen

Ceist:

239 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Health and Children the current status of the legislation to regulate the allied health professionals; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that trained paramedics working in the ambulance service are not allowed to use their training if called to accidents and emergencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26245/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

Talks have been taking place with the professional bodies representing 13 professions with a view to agreeing a system of statutory registration for health and social care professionals since April 2000. The professions included in the current talks are physiotherapists, social workers, radiographers, psychologists, chiropodists-podiatrists, care workers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, environmental health officers, biochemists, orthoptists and medical laboratory technicians.

My Department produced a consultative document which formed the basis of a series of workshops, where the professional bodies have been given an opportunity to debate fully the issues involved. As a result of the workshops the consultative document has been comprehensively revised. The professional bodies are currently debating this document among their membership and will be providing feedback to my Department in the coming weeks. Subject to the professional bodies' agreement to the proposals, my Department will commence drafting the heads of a Bill in the near future.

Policy on the development of emergency medical services in Ireland is set out in a number of documents including the report of the review group on the ambulance service and Building Healthier Hearts, the Government's cardiovascular health strategy. Since the publication of the report of the review group on the ambulance service considerable progress has been made in the area of training for emergency medical technicians and the Government is now taking steps to implement the recommendations of the cardiovascular health strategy in relation to advanced training.

The Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council, which I recently established, will provide a firm basis for the future development of professional standards in the ambulance service and pre-hospital care generally. One of the first tasks the council will be asked to address are the issues surrounding the development of advanced emergency medical technician training, including the regulatory issues which arise in relation to this. I expect the council to deal comprehensively with all issues in its consideration of advanced training and to provide a detailed implementation plan in the near future.