Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My mathematics are not brilliant either but the Deputy said she is in the CHO 9 area and I have done a rough calculation. There were 1,971 community nurses there in December 2017 and that had risen to 2,074 in April 2018, which I think is an increase of 103 nurses. I accept the point and am not contesting that we need to continue to do more to get back to where we want to be in respect of people working on the front line of our health service. We also need to make sure that we provide more attractive working opportunities for nurses in the community. We have a draft policy for community nursing and midwifery which is a response to an integrated model of care. This model of care proposes one that offers the individual family and community a range of choices and will be facilitated through a variety of changes to the model so that we can have a proactive rather than reactive model of care. The policy proposes to meet service users choice and needs as close to home as possible.

In addition to dealing with the traditional ways of recruitment and retention, we are considering the career opportunities and satisfaction for community nursing. I accept we have more to do in this area and a significant amount more to do to get back to where we were in 2007 but I contend we are beginning to make slow progress on this. There has been an increase in recent years. I read out the figures for the Deputy and I will circulate the table to her. I look forward to the outcome of the Public Service Pay Commission negotiations and being guided by its recommendations.

See this speech in context