Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Health and Social Care Professionals Bill. The Bill proposes necessary technical amendments to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005, which introduced a State regulatory regime for the designated health and social care professions not previously regulated. The main purpose of the Bill is to amend the Act to allow the Minister for Health to continue to appoint professional members to the council until each of the 12 registration boards established under the Act has held elections and is in a position to nominate one of its elected members. The 12 registration boards were established following the 2005 Act, which provided for the establishment of a system of statutory registration for 12 health and social care professions.

The system comprises a registration board for each of the 12 designated professions, a Health and Social Care Professionals Council with overall responsibility for the regulatory system, and a committee structure to deal with disciplinary matters. In time, as each register completes its transitional period, only a registrant of a registration board will be entitled to use the relevant designated title. The Health and Social Care Professionals Council was established in March 2007. Its mission is to protect the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct and professional education, training and competence through statutory registration of health and social care professionals.

I have witnessed at first hand some of the great work carried out by carers throughout my constituency of Louth and east Meath. Whether it is nursing, midwifery, occupational therapy or radiography, the standard of care provided in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda or Louth County Hospital in Dundalk is outstanding.

Social care is a profession where people work in partnership with those who experience marginalisation or disadvantage or who have special needs. Social care practitioners work with children and adolescents in residential care, as I have experienced in the setting of St. John of God's, Drumcar, County Louth. Other services include those for people with learning or physical disabilities, like the great work done by St. Brigid's Special School in Dundalk. I have seen support provided to homeless people in Dundalk by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. I have seen people with alcohol or drug dependency being supported by the Simon Community in Dundalk and Drogheda. Other organisations support families in the community and I have witnessed the support provided for older people by Older and Bolder in Dundalk and Drogheda.

To date, only two registration boards, the Social Workers Registration Board and the Radiographers Registration Board, have been established. This is the difficulty the Bill addresses. The current provisions of the Act do not allow for the Minister to make nominations for vacancies which have arisen subsequently, since the Act specifies that these should be elected members of, and nominated by, registration boards. The Bill, therefore, provides that the Minister may appoint members to the council in various circumstances, including where a registration board has not been established or has not yet held an election. This is one of the key benefits of the Bill and why I have no hesitation in commending it to the House.

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