Professor Orla Hardiman:

There is certainly an appetite among my nursing colleagues to develop. That can be seen in the Sláintecare implementation programme we undertook in respect of headaches. We identified three sites to develop a pilot project for headache management that focused specifically on the role or development of nursing. We had no difficulty recruiting nurses to those sites. Our expectation or hope in the context of the scheduled care transmission programme is to roll out that model to all ten sites for neurological care. We do not anticipate any difficulty in that instance in recruiting nurses who are interested in developing expertise within the headache or migraine fields. There is an appetite among our colleagues in nursing to engage. We need to be careful to ensure the programme is developed appropriately and that the resources and supports within the multidisciplinary team are there as we grow the nursing programme. Nurses' roles are best implemented when they are working as part of a larger multidisciplinary team, so there is significant investment required across the board for other members of the multidisciplinary team as well. Having a nurse who does not have the wherewithal to engage with other specialists and professionals limits the role and agency of the nurse.