Michael Ring
Ceist:969 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of health care assistants who have been trained; and the number who have trained in the GMIT, Castlebar, County Mayo. [15752/02]
Written Answers. - Health Care Assistants.
In line with recommendation 4:55 of the Commission on Nursing a national pilot programme for the formal training of health care assistants commenced in November 2001 and was successfully completed in May 2002. This course is being run in conjunction with the Further Education and Training Awards Council, FETAC. As a result of this pilot programme there are now 178 trained health care assistants. This means that 178 have received a level 2 National Council Vocational Award from the Further Education and Training Awards Council. A further 69 will receive this award in November.
No health care assistants were trained in GMIT as GMIT was not a pilot site. However, 37 health care assistants undertook training in the Western Health Board area and 36 individuals completed the course. The following is a breakdown of the pilot sites in the Western Health Board area:
|
Mayo Regional Hospital - Castlebar |
7 |
|
Portiuncula Hospital |
10 |
|
Belmullet Community Nursing Unit |
2 |
|
Roscommon County - Hospital |
6 |
|
Sacred Heart Hospital - Roscommon |
6 |
|
Plunkett Home - Boyle |
2 |
|
Sacred Heart Hospital - Castlebar |
4 |
|
Total |
37 |
970.
Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of health care assistants who have been employed by the health boards nationwide; and the number who have been employed by the Western Health Board. [15753/02]
The number of health care assistants employed by the health boards nationwide and by the Western Health Board are as set out in the following tabular statement. These are broken down into the following grades: attendants-aides, care assistants and nursing auxiliary-orderlies.
|
All Health BoardsGrades |
Total WTE excl. Career Break |
|
Attendant-Aide |
4,218 |
|
Care Assistant |
375 |
|
Care Assistant (Intellectual Disability Services) |
474 |
|
Nurses Aides |
7 |
|
Nursing Auxiliary-Orderly |
705 |
|
Total |
5,779 |
|
Western Health Board onlyGrade |
Total WTE excl. Career Break |
|
Attendant-Aide |
807 |
|
Care Assistant |
17 |
|
Nursing Auxiliary-Orderly |
84 |
|
Sum |
907 |
Note: All figures are expressed as wholetime equivalents.