Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for giving me, on behalf of the Minister for Health, the opportunity to inform the House on the progress made to date in assisting doctors arriving from Ukraine to gain registration and employment in Ireland. She has raised a valuable issue. The Department of Health has been working closely with colleagues in the six health profession regulators to examine ways to support all Ukrainian health practitioners arriving in the State. The regulators fully recognise the importance of assisting these practitioners and have been actively examining the measures that might need to be taken to support them to join their registers where possible and to gain employment in the health service.

As the Senator will be aware, the Medical Council is the statutory agency responsible for the registration and regulation of doctors in Ireland. It is committed to supporting doctors arriving from Ukraine seeking to work in this jurisdiction. The Medical Council has established an internal working group to examine ways in which it can support these doctors. It has met the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland and it has a dedicated email address and web page with information for Ukrainian doctors. The HSE has also been heavily engaged in this and is working on providing employment pathways for those with health care qualifications and experience. The HSE is exploring the possibility of observer roles in clinical areas while doctors are awaiting full registration and is working closely with the Medical Council in this regard. To be fair, the Senator addressed this and acknowledged that it is happening.

The HSE has a web portal open to Ukrainian practitioners who wish to register their interest in working in healthcare and it communicates regularly to inform them of updates on their profession. The Department meets on a regular basis with the HSE and health regulators to exchange updates and to address any issue arising in respect of Ukrainian doctors. In the course of this work, it has become clear that medical English language training is particularly required to assist many of the applicants to meet the standards necessary for registration with the Medical Council. I am pleased to inform the House that last week the Minister for Health approved a funding package for medical English language training to assist Ukrainian doctors and dentists in gaining registration here.

The medical language training package, designed in association with the HSE, consists of a language assessment and needs analysis followed by one of three subsequent training pathways. The HSE is finalising the application and operational details and will communicate shortly with Ukrainian practitioners, in conjunction with the regulators and the Ukrainian Embassy. Further funding will be made available to support Ukrainian healthcare professionals to meet additional costs that may be associated with achieving recognition and that may be outside the control of the regulators, such as professional competence exams. These supports will ensure that practitioners will not be precluded from registering because of financial barriers. These measures, when they come on stream early next year, will significantly boost the ability of Ukrainian doctors to gain registration.

I genuinely believe there is a brilliant opportunity here for the HSE. It is taking the proper steps and measures and putting them in place. the Senator mentioned 400 clinicians to which we would have access. The health services is on its knees needing people. That needs to happen at pace. I hear what the Senator said. Some of these doctors are proficient. Let them sit the language test and give them a clear pathway to do the exams. We see from the HSE portal that accessing employment takes approximately 38 other processes. It could take another 12 months. We need to ask the Minister, and after I leave here I will ask, how we can expedite the experience we have captured in this country not only for the benefit of Irish people but for the benefit of other Ukrainians in a similar position.