Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Colm Burke for this important question. I assure the Deputy at the outset that significant engagement is ongoing between my Department, the Department of Health, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, and the higher education sector to develop a joined-up approach to address system-level demand in health care disciplines, including radiation therapy. We are trying to move beyond the scramble in response to the request to provide them with a few extra places in September to determine how many, in each therapy post, should Ireland need to be training. For instance, how many nurses, doctors, speech and language therapists and, specifically in relation to this question, radiation therapists a year do we need to train?

Healthcare programmes, as Deputy Colm Burke will be aware, are complex in delivery. There are fundamental issues, some of which are in the control of the health sector. Others are in the control of the college. We can create a college place and the health sector obviously needs to be in a position to create a matching clinical placement. Issues such as guarantee of clinical placements, detailed and robust workforce planning projections and engagement with regulators are key. In addition to qualifying additional health professionals, as, of course, training them is one thing, the health sector successfully recruiting and retaining them will also be key.

In the middle of last year, my Department established a working group to identify and address barriers to expansion in the health and social care professions, including radiation therapy. I am pleased to say the working group included representatives from my Department, the Department of Health, the HSE, CORU and the higher education sector. The group is looking at incremental expansion from September 2023. In other words, can we do anything quickly? There is space to provide a modest increase this year. Crucially, it is looking at whether, from September 2024, and 2025 and 2026, we can do a lot more in terms of a really big step-change in terms of the number of people we train each year to work in the health service, including in the area of radiation therapy.

I understand that the HSE is developing a framework for practice placement education. I understand that the Department of Health has recently appointed a health and social care profession, HSCP, officer to lead on enabling expansion in health and social care professions. The appointment of that person, along with now having a chief medical officer, CMO, and a chief nursing officer, CNO, is very good news.

Officials from my Department are engaging with higher education institutions to ascertain expansion on existing programmes from this year, including radiation therapy, but crucially to try and have that multi-annual plan for the next number of years.

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