Dáil debates
Wednesday, 5 November 2014
Topical Issue Debate
Health Services Staff Training
2:35 pm
Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I am grateful for the opportunity to address the Minister about the audiology course in Athlone Institute of Technology, AIT. I wish to highlight the urgent need to ensure the BSc honours degree programme in audiology at AIT continues its student intake once the current cohort of students complete their programme in the summer of 2016.
Students from the Republic of Ireland traditionally had to go to the UK to gain an educational qualification in audiology by pursuing a BSc degree in audiology, which is the current entry level for an audiologist working in the UK. On foot of this, and worrying reports on the serious scarcity of community audiologists and long waiting lists, one of the programmes proposed during the AIT school of science strategy meeting in 2009 was a level 8 four-year BSc honours degree course in audiology. It was the first of its type in Ireland. At this juncture, AIT, which has the authority to develop, design and validate its own programmes, began a phased development of the BSc honours degree in audiology. The AIT audiology course was subsequently included in the Central Applications Office, CAO, listing for entry in September 2012. The college received public funding of €100,000 to support the programme.
However, it appears that the HSE changed its thinking and proposed that the entry-level qualification for an audiologist working in the HSE be a two-year MSc programme, as opposed to an undergraduate course. In the meantime, a cohort of 21 students had commenced their first year in the new course in audiology in the AIT. However, at the end of their first year the programme was facing cancellation because the Higher Education Authority, HEA, said it would not provide funding for work placements. Apparently, they did not meet the new MSc entry level requirement. At the start of August last year the class of audiology students was left in academic limbo after the course was cancelled due to placement and funding issues. Thankfully, a settlement was reached some weeks later in the High Court between AIT, the HSE and the HEA, allowing the cohort of students to continue their four-year course. Unfortunately, once the current cohort of students graduate in summer 2016, the programme will not continue until the situation is resolved to the satisfaction of AIT, the HSE and the HEA. Athlone Institute of Technology has suspended its student intake for the course.
The Minister will be aware that the earlier a child is tested, the better the chance of diagnosing a hearing problem and putting in place a programme to ensure the child gets the best opportunity to develop communications skills. In the last few years a senior HSE official said the service was facing significant demand and pointed to research carried out in the UK which showed that between the ages of 71 and 80 years as many as 82% of people have some degree of hearing impairment. Given our aging population, the service will be expected to meet a greatly increased demand from that age group.
As the window of opportunity to resolve this issue is getting narrower and there is obviously a clear demand for audiologists in this country, I ask the Minister to give the matter due consideration. We must ensure that the excellent audiology course at Athlone Institute of Technology continues to take in students, which will help in meeting the growing public demand for audiology services.
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to address the issue of audiology education. The HSE's national audiology review group recommended in 2011 that a domestic programme for audiology be established as a matter of priority. The audiology clinical care programme was tasked with reviewing the workforce numbers and making a recommendation for a BSc versus a MSc programme. The audiology clinical care programme concluded that in view of the relatively small size of the current and proposed workforce, some of whom would in any case be at assistant audiologist level, the long-term sustainability of a primary degree programme was doubtful. Undergraduate programmes with cohorts of less than 15 are financially challenging and sometimes unviable. Due to the limited number of clinical placements and employment opportunities, a larger cohort of students would not be sustainable or necessary.
The alternative is for initial training to be through a two-year accelerated MSc degree, as happens in other countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The audiology clinical care programme, with guidance from the Higher Education Authority, concluded that the most effective route for initial training would be an accelerated two-year master's degree programme for students with suitable primary degrees, motivation and disposition. The advantages of a master's over a primary degree for initial training include lower cost, smaller numbers better matched to placement capacity and employment prospects, a better-quality workforce with greater likelihood of future leadership, and research and development linkage.
The HSE, in partnership with the Higher Education Authority, undertook a formal process of inviting expressions of interest from higher education institutes in Ireland. University College Cork was selected in 2013, and it will commence the master's programme in 2015. Unfortunately, Athlone Institute of Technology commenced its primary degree programme in 2012 without approval from either the HEA or the HSE.
It faced sanction from the HEA in early 2014 as a result of this action. Nevertheless, the Health Service Executive agreed to provide placements for the current cohort of Athlone Institute of Technology students once the course was accredited by an external expert. Since accreditation of the Athlone Institute of Technology course in mid-2014, the clinical lead, the senior clinician in audiology in Ireland, has worked continuously with AIT to arrange placements for the students who will commence their studies in early 2015.
In summary, the required domestic framing programme for audiologists in Ireland is at master's degree level. University College Cork was formally selected by the HSE and the HEA to provide this framing and the course will commence in 2015. It will supply a sufficient number of highly qualified graduates per year to maintain the audiology workforce. For this reason, an additional training programme at a lower primary degree level is unnecessary.
2:45 pm
Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister, although I do not agree with all the points he made. Athlone Institute of Technology has received significant professional support from the audiology community, North and South, in taking the initiative in 2010 to offer a degree programme. It should be noted that Athlone Institute of Technology filled a gap that needed to be filled by offering the only full-time BSc audiology course in the country.
As the Minister is aware, from a demand point of view, there is a long waiting list for audiology services for both adults and children. I spoke recently to an extremely upset mother whose two and a half year old child had waited 21 months for an audiology appointment before being told that the service could not be provided because no audiologists were available.
At the end of October 2014, an expert independent evaluation report found that the Athlone Institute of Technology programme was on a par with the standards of similar courses in the United Kingdom and other international programmes. The report identified 22 reasons the AIT degree course met the required standards and concluded that its graduates in audiology would be more than able to fulfil any role available in this area. The previous Minister for Health was very impressed with the audiology department in AIT when he visited. I hope the current Minister will keep this matter under review.
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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While I appreciate the Deputy's concerns and interest in this matter, the relevant decision is not one for me to make. Working with the Health Service Executive, the national clinical lead, the most senior clinician for audiology in the State, decided that a master's degree was preferable to a bachelor's degree, and University College Cork, rather than Athlone Institute of Technology, offered such a degree. While I understand that AIT would prefer to have been selected ahead of Cork, the decision was to opt for the higher level master's degree in Cork. If the national clinical lead for audiology takes the view that a bachelor's programme in Athlone is not necessary and the HEA, which comes within the ambit of the Minister for Education and Skills, is not willing to fund the programme in Athlone, my hands are tied.