Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is relevant in the context of staffing numbers in the hospital system. These were key posts that were part of overall staffing numbers. The presentation today was very much about decision making, about who makes staffing decisions and about the fact that it should be nurses who make them. Approval was given to fill a number of key nursing posts deemed to be critical to the day-to-day operation of hospitals. That was shelved last August when the new moratorium was introduced. The Department has given the impression that the new graduate scheme will fill those vacancies. Is that the case? Will that scheme fill those critical posts or how will it address that issue? The problem now is that in many hospitals, including one in my own area, patients are being transferred to private nursing homes because of staffing difficulties.

On the issue of the registered nursing forecasting system funded by the EU, a very telling point in the study was that there is a very poor level of information on public health workers and that the information that is available is inadequate. Is it not the case that the inadequate compilation of information is allowing individual hospitals to cook the books, so to speak, regarding what is happening on the ground? I have given evidence here, backed up by the HSE, that a particular hospital was actually managing the trolleys in order to undermine the trolley count. In light of that, does the INMO believe more investment is needed in the collation of information so that we know exactly what is happening. We should not have to rely on the INMO to fund independent research in order to get this data.

In the context of the registered nursing forecast findings, the point was made that the ratio in Ireland relative to the UK is roughly the same, with a difference of about 2%. However, that 2% equates to approximately 1,000 front line nurses. The INMO has made the point that there has been a lot of vocational training provided to support staff, who number about 30%, in the UK. Is the INMO making the case today that as well as dealing with the challenges that we have regarding recruitment, there is room to improve efficiency by having properly trained support staff who could release nurses back onto the front line, as has been done in the UK?