Ms Ginny Hanrahan:

CORU is Ireland’s first multi-profession statutory health regulator. Our role and legislative mandate is to protect the public by regulating the work of designated health and social care professions. How do we protect the public? We do so by setting minimum thresholds for the professional standards that members of each profession must meet in order to practice in Ireland. This protects the public by ensuring that CORU's registered health and social care professionals, who are often providing care to the most vulnerable in our society, meet the standards that are required to provide safe and effective care. Only those professionals who meet these standards may register with CORU and use the protected title.

The first register opened by CORU in 2011 was for social workers. Since then, we have regulated a further 11 professions. Today, more than 25,000 health and social care professionals are regulated by CORU. A new register for social care workers will open in November. The Minister for Health has also designated five further professions for CORU to regulate. Once all 17 professions are regulated, some 40,000 professionals will be registered. Many of the professions in question had not been regulated previously. The work undertaken to introduce regulation should not be underestimated.

Many of these professions had not been regulated previously and the work undertaken to introduce regulation should not be underestimated. Our success can be seen in the increasing demand from other profession to be considered for regulation.

Education approval is one of the most important ways we protect the public. We ensure that the education bodies deliver qualifications that prepare professionals to provide safe and appropriate care. CORU has a statutory role to approve and monitor education and training programmes, which has a separate purpose to academic validation. Our approval ensures graduates have the knowledge, skills, and competence to provide safe care. For each profession, we draft education and training standards. This establishes the minimum standards of education required to ensure a graduate will be able to provide safe and appropriate care. Our process is robust. It is a strong lever to ensure compliance with the threshold standards. We hold a public consultation giving all stakeholders, including educators, opportunities to give feedback on the proposed standards developed by the registration boards. Once these standards are finalised, the education providers apply to CORU for approval.

Our process is to assess and monitor how programmes are actually delivering. We do not rely on what is set out in a prospectus. We examine the reality of what the programme is and establish whether the graduates will be skilled to provide safe care to the public. The assessment by an expert panel includes meeting with educators, placement providers and students, to confirm that the standards are being delivered. Where a programme meets the standards, it is approved and a new bylaw is made. Graduates from that programme are then eligible to apply for entry to the CORU register. Where deficits are identified we work with the education provider to assist them in addressed these. I understand the desire of education providers to have certainty from the outset but this is contrary to public safety. To approve courses based on a proposal rather than reality, transfers the risk from the education provider to patients and service users. It is the responsibility of each education provider to ensure its programmes meet the minimum standards. It is its responsibility to ensure the students get the required training. Above all else, it has a responsibility to the patients and service users who will be in the care of their graduates. Education providers also have an opportunity to be transparent and to keep students informed of the status of their programmes, include before students enrol.

CORU has approved 73 education and training programmes. Thirty of these of these have been for the social care workers, whose register will open in November. Due to the collaborative approach we take with education providers, we have never refused to approve a programme. Our health system in Ireland needs more health and social care professionals. In the last two years, CORU has approved 12 new programmes and received expressions of interest relating to 11 others. Our approval processes confirms that each new programme delivers desperately-needed graduates with suitable qualifications to safely provide care. Where concerns arise, and it becomes apparent there are serious deficits which cannot be rectified, we engage with the educator providers, Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, and others in their duties to ensure the students are protected.

I was appointed CEO of CORU in 2008. I have dedicated my professional life to establishing a system of multi-profession regulation networks. Today is my final day; I officially retire from CORU this evening. I am immensely proud of what the organisation has achieved to date since our establishment to protect the public. What has become very apparent to me is the importance of providing access to training and education for all members of our society. Our health and social care professionals should reflect the communities they serve. Inequities regarding access to education and training impacts those from diverse backgrounds the most. The growth in post-education programmes is a concern given their cost which puts them outside the reach of many. Our educators have an opportunity to change this and I respectfully suggest that it is important they do so. I thank the committee members for their time and look forward to their questions.