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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Oct 2001

Vol. 541 No. 2

Written Answers. - Third Level Education.

Noel Ahern

Ceist:

425 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Health and Children if, regarding the claim by student nurses to be eligible for third level educational grants, he will outline the case being made and the current situation; if they currently have free fees; if the claim is for fees and maintenance; the reason student nurses are the only students paid during training; the level of pay to a student nurse; if there was agreement on wages and grants when a nurse qualification became a degree course; the number of weeks or months per year student nurses spend in hospitals; the time which is spent working as a nurse on the wards rather than observing or being lectured; the length of a term year for a student nurse; if annual leave compares favourably to other students; the reason nurses and student nurses are treated differently in hospitals in relation to paying for meals; the approximate annual expenditure by a student nurse on uniforms and medical extras over an average student; the way in which a claim for educational grants is being considered; and when a decision is due. [21045/01]

In 1998, the transition from the traditional apprenticeship model of nursing training to the revised diploma model was completed in all three pre-registration nursing disciplines, general, mental handicap and psychiatric nursing. The current training programme is operated by schools of nursing in association with third level institutions. Successful completion of the three year nursing registration/diploma programme leads to registration as a nurse with An Bord Altranais and the award of a Diploma in Nursing Studies from the linked third level institution.

It should be noted that the change from the traditional apprenticeship model of nurse training to the nursing diploma programme means that nursing students are supernumerary to the workforce and no longer receive a salary, except for a fourteen-week period during the third year of training when they are rostered for work. However, nursing students on the diploma programmes receive a substantial financial support package, including an annual non-means tested maintenance grant of £3,570, 4,532.96. The value of this grant is almost double the rate of the maximum means-tested higher education grant payable to other third level students. This is in recognition of the 48 week commitment that nursing students are required to give to theoretical instruction and clinical instruction during each of the three years of the programme. Nursing students commencing the diploma programme also benefit from a book allowance of £270, 342.83, along with a uniform allowance of £170, 215.85. Nursing students are also entitled to receive free meals on a seven-day per week basis in designated health institutions. Students undertaking external clinical placements receive an allowance of £40 or 50.79 per week in cases where it is necessary for the students to find alternative accommodation away from their normal place of residence for the duration of the placement. Students undertaking external clinical placements also receive a weekly travel pass. Since the abolition of third level fees does not extend to the nursing diploma programmes, the student nurses' fees continue to be paid by the relevant health agency on their behalf. The average annual fee is about £1,700, 2,158.55. The average annual total value of these supports is some £7,000 or 8,888.17 per nursing student, which compares most favourably with the level of funding available to other third level students.

The Commission on Nursing, which reported in 1998, recommended that pre-registration nursing education should move to a four-year degree programme in time for the intake of nursing students in 2002. The commission also recommended that pre-registration nursing education should be incorporated into the third level education sector with education modules being organised around academic semesters. This would allow nursing students to become more like other third level students with similar holiday periods. In such a scenario, the commission considered that the cur rent non-means tested grant payable to nursing students would no longer be tenable. The commission accordingly recommended that the nursing student grant and any student benefits should be the same as those available to other third level students and be means-tested. All of the funding issues associated with the implementation of these recommendations are currently being considered by an interdepartmental steering committee. This committee is composed of representatives of my Department, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Finance and the Higher Education Authority. I expect to be in a position in the near future to bring proposals before Government for the implementation of a nursing degree programme along the lines of the Commission on Nursing's recommendations.
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