Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will whizz through seeing as my time is being cut short. Deputy Kenny raised the issue of non-EEA doctors in the system, and that they cannot access consultant posts. If one was to take out the effective embargo on the number of people who can be hired, is there capacity in the system with those doctors to try to make fairly decent headway into the shortage outlined? Reference was made to the issue going back as far as education and that we are just not educating enough people in certain areas. What kinds of numbers do those non-EEA educated doctors make up, if there was no block on how many could be recruited? Would that make any decent headway into the shortage in numbers?

With regard to the recruitment plans for the high-level wholetime staff equivalents for the winter plan, under the heading of nursing midwives, managerial and administration I see that the HSE has proposed employing only 101 more nurses. Surely this has to be questioned. The overall recruitment goals, and not just for nursing, possibly need to be questioned. Based on the presentation the committee has had this morning these numbers seem wholly unrealistic. What do the witnesses say to this? What impact will this have on healthcare provision overall?

Student nurses are doing unpaid work, which I believe is absolutely and utterly unseen. Student nurses are contacting me every single day, including a nurse working on a Covid ward who is not being paid. It is absolutely and utterly disgraceful that nurses on Covid wards are not being paid. I wrote to the former Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, and the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, on this matter. I have heard diddly squat about it. I am aware that the Union of Students in Ireland have lobbied on this and they too have heard diddly squat on it. Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha has said that the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has engaged with the Department. Does Ms Ní Sheaghdha believe that anything is actually going to happen or are we all going to continue to clap for these student nurses and hope for the best? What sort of engagement has the INMO actually had and is there any genuine intention to deal with this issue?