Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, athletic therapists. There is, however, no legal impediment to their being hired, so the HSE can keep an eye on that. As we invest more in prevention, Healthy Ireland and healthy living, the HSE should be very open to that. Similarly, the other group Deputy Shortall mentioned has a very direct impact, potentially, and a very direct benefit in acute care and maybe community-based care as well as diagnostics, which we are expanding a lot. If there is a clinical case for that, it can be made, and the HSE should engage with that group of people to see what can be done. It does not require regulation. They may want regulation, but it is important to say that it is not required. In fact, one of the points officials made to me after our committee session was that, actually, the voluntary providers have led the way sometimes in creating new healthcare professional roles like the exercise therapists we have just talked about. The voluntary-led or grassroots-led approach which then gets regulated afterwards is fine, so it is important that, as these healthcare professionals come on stream, the HSE can hire them.

Specifically on the amendment, as the Deputies will see, the wording I propose differs very slightly from that proposed by Deputy Shortall in that it does not reference the Act under which CORU operates. That approach is deliberate as the intention is that the work being undertaken will implement policymaking for the regulation of health and social care professionals generally and not just those identified within CORU's legislation. We just want to keep this broader than the professions currently regulated. Policy decisions around the models of regulation that might emerge or functions assigned to particular regulators, I think, are best left open. I acknowledge Deputy Shortall's very reasonable request that we understand my view at this time. My view at this time is that we should crack on with this, get this report done and pull from international best practice. Rather than trying to steer them in any particular way, I want to just let them at it in order that they can consider all options for now.

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