Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for the presentation and the briefing on this issue, which is one of concern to the committee and it is also a concern, on wider basis, in regard to the health services. The presentation appears, to some extent, to paint a picture of difficulties almost amounting to a crisis level within the organisation. The presentation states, "This has created uncertainty and insecurity amongst staff in the organisation with a subsequent increase in staff turnover for the first half of this year, with 11 staff having left in the first half of 2015". How many staff does the board have overall and what percentage of the overall staff would the 11 staff who left in the first half of 2015 constitute? That statement is quite broad and I wonder if there are particular reasons for that turnover of staff. There is a bigger workload within the organisation as we can note from the figures but it appears the staff numbers have decreased significantly. What is the background to that?

There is the question of replacing those staff and the number of applicants is increasing but staff numbers are declining. Dr. Pidgeon might elaborate on what she means by interim staff. Are they temporary, part-time or long-term staff and how are they appointed? Is there a long recruitment process for these staff or what is the exact position regarding their appointment? How long are those appointments for or are they long-term appointments?

Dr. Pidgeon might elaborate on the financial position and the resources generally. What are the difficulties? What factors have brought about a situation where the level of funding is not adequate in terms of the number of applications with which the organisation is dealing?

On the issue of the number of nurses being trained, and this may not be relevant to the issue under discussion, does the NMBI have a role in the training of nurses? Does it have a role in making recommendations? In the area of gerontology and dealing with the elderly, it appears we will have a significant deficit in the number of nurses being trained. I am not sure if that comes within the remit of the NMBI or whether it has any input into that. Can Dr. Pidgeon see a time when the application and registration process will be manageable again within reasonable timeframes?