Ms Anne O'Connor:

They are currently not being paid as it is part of their clinical training. For any clinical professionals who do placements within any of our community or acute sites, they are not being paid, as it stands.

When students worked as healthcare assistants in previous months, particularly over the summer months, they were paid as healthcare assistants, but they are now back as part of their college year. I am aware this is a very live issue and it has been raised with the Department. Again, we have many different types of students working across the health system who are all doing clinical work, so that is a very big decision that would have to be agreed with the Department of Health and elsewhere.