Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for highlighting this important matter. My Department is here to help any part of the public service that needs more people trained in specific areas. That includes veterinarians, as we saw this year, doctors and nurses. We are now doing work on disability services. We stand ready to help any part of the public health service or any Department that wants to put a workforce plan in place. We are here and ready to help. We could more planning in this area.

I will outline what we have done so far. The Department is committed to supporting the health and welfare of the population by ensuring we train enough people to work in the health service. As the Deputy knows, training is only one part but it is a good start. We want to ensure we support a range of clinical teams. Disciplines such as medicine, nursing and a range of allied healthcare professions are, of course, relevant to mental health, as well as our other health and social care disciplines.

In July I announced 460 annual new entrant places in healthcare programmes. We are growing the number of students being able to study healthcare by 460 from this September. Sixty of these places are in medicine. Some of those will go on to specialise in mental health. It is not possible for me to predict at the moment, but increasing the number of undergraduate medicine places helps. A total of 255 places are in nursing of which 49 are specifically in mental health nursing. That was what was sought through the work that was undertaken. In addition, Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast have 200 places in nursing, which also will be of benefit. A further 50 paces are available in therapy disciplines in Ulster University. These places build further on the expansion in the system in recent years, including 135 annual new entrant places in nursing and 60 in medicine in 2022.

Through an expression-of-interest process we asked our third level institutions what more they could do in healthcare.

They have come back with a highly ambitious plan as to how they believe we can grow the numbers of nurses, doctors, therapists and others working in the health service over the next number of years. I am committed to working with the HSE, the Department of Health and the Minister for Health in delivering that programme. I would also welcome any insights the Deputy or others he may talk to have on this issue.

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