Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 20 Feb 2002

Vol. 549 No. 1

Written Answers. - Nursing Staff.

Breeda Moynihan-Cronin

Ceist:

160 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps he is taking to attract or recruit more nurses into the psychiatric services; the number of vacancies in the psychiatric services in the Southern Health Board area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5991/02]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

I have been advised by the Southern Health Board that all vacancies in the mental health services are filled by either temporary staff or overtime working. The board has recently recruited 14 permanent nurses from Trinidad and Tobago to take up positions in west Cork and St. Stephen's Hospital.

A major recruitment and retention initiative, costing in excess of £5 million, €6.35 million, was launched by me on 29 November 2000 to address the present shortage of nurses and midwives, including psychiatric nurses. In particular a scheme of flexible working arrangements for nurses and midwives in the public health service came into operation on 1 February 2001. Under the scheme, individual nurses and midwives may apply to work between eight and 39 hours per week on a permanent part-time basis.

As part of my overall recruitment and retention strategy, I have introduced the following financial support for nurses and midwives undertaking post-registration educational courses – payment of fees to nurses and midwives undertaking part-time nursing and certain other undergraduate degree courses, payment of fees and enhanced salary to nurses and midwives undertaking courses in specialised areas of clinical practice, abolition of fees for back-to-practice courses and payment of salary to nurses and midwives undertaking such courses.

On 1 November 2001, I launched the new four year undergraduate pre-registration nursing degree programme commencing in 2002. The new nursing degree programme, to replace the current three year diploma programme, will put the education of nurses on a par with that of other health care professionals. The nursing profession has long been seeking such parity and the Government's decision implements a central recommendation of the commission on nursing. Educating nurses to degree level will enable them to develop their clinical skills to a greater extent and to respond to future challenges in health care for the benefit of patients and client groups.

The Government has approved a capital building programme totalling £176 million, €223.5 million, for the construction of facilities to accommodate nursing students at 13 higher education institutions throughout the country. This programme is due to be completed by September 2004.

A total of 1,640 places nationally will be available annually on the degree programme as follows:

General	1,057
Psychiatry	343
Mental Handicap	240

My Department is also engaged in strategic planning through the study of the nursing and midwifery resource. The focus of this work is on longer term planning. The primary objective of the study is to forecast as far as is possible future nursing and midwifery workforce needs. An interim report was published in October 2000 and widely circulated within the health services and the final report is due to be published in April 2002.