Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Independent Senators on putting this motion forward. There is no question that there is an incredible shortage of neurology nurses throughout the State. However, I wish to mention something that I am sure Members have mentioned, although I apologise that I have not been able to follow the debate. It is essential that in places such as St. James's Hospital we have an additional ten neurology nurses at the very minimum. Such a leading centre in the country having a shortfall has a devastating effect on families and most particularly on patients. It is absolutely essential for the support of individuals and we must be creative in how we ensure we have enough people qualified and enough people coming into the country. We have to look at this from the flow of where we are drawing our neurology nurses from and whether we are supporting that as a choice for specialist training. We need to examine that and I urge that we do so. Most particularly, we must put the funding and support in place to ensure we have an adequate complement of neurology nurses throughout the country.