Seanad debates

Tuesday, 1 December 2020

Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters

Nursing Education

10:30 am

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House today. I feel like we have a weekly date to discuss things.

It probably goes without saying that this year has been an extremely difficult and trying time for everybody in the country, but none more so than our front-line workers, in particular those working in the healthcare system, including our doctors, nurses, porters, cleaners and healthcare assistants. It has been tough for them and in uncertain circumstances they have stepped up to stop the pandemic in its tracks, help and mind Irish people and ensure our hospitals were not overrun, as unfortunately happened in many other European countries.

Student nurses in many of our hospitals continue to be a vital additional resource for management when workloads increased. The Department of Health correctly opened the temporary healthcare assistant salary to student nurses who carried out the duties, and, more important, had the responsibilities, of looking after our fellow citizens, responsibilities that would never have been placed on them in any other normal year.

For a student nurse studying for a four-year degree, 45 weeks of placement are required. While the four-year internship programme and placement are paid, students in first, second and third years are unpaid. In the past week or so, different commentators and the Minister have tried to justify the receipt of travel or accommodation allowances, but at the very best that payment might equal €50 per week. At the very worst, a young woman in my constituency detailed that she gets €7 per week in travel allowance. That would not cover her bus fare from Ratoath to the hospital she is working in. Significant asks have been made of student nurses this year, and they are not going away and probably will not go away until we have a widespread vaccination programme which will come, please God, next year.

Gaining a qualification in nursing is a daunting enough task at the best of times. Doing a placement in the middle of a global pandemic with many incredibly worrying and overwhelming challenges ahead of them means that we need to show we value the students and the work they do. To do that, we need to compensate them. We need to recognise, through money, our support for student nurses and the work they do. A round of applause would only go so far.

I welcome the recent soundings from the Minister and Department of Health on reviewing student allowances in the longer term. That the Minister is considering those proposals means that will not help students on a placement this year. Students who have been on those placements from September until Christmas will be expected to come back in January when we know the normal onslaught on the health service will put them in a further invidious and unenviable position.

It is time for us to stand up as a State and recognise once and for all, not at some future date but today, the hard work, commitment and dedication to the delivery of good public services and health services shown by our first, second, third and fourth year student nurses, and make an announcement before Christmas that we will look after them financially.

Photo of Frank FeighanFrank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Doherty for raising this important issue. I recognise the importance of student nurses and midwives completing their essential clinical placements in a safe environment and the potential hardship that might arise for students on placement due to Covid-19, as the Senator outlined, such as maintaining part-time employment, increased travel and additional accommodation costs.

Student nurses and midwives are not paid for clinical placements in years one to three, inclusive, and year four from the period of September to December of their studies. This supernumerary status is critical for learning in complex environments. Financial supports for non-intern student nurses and midwives are governed by Circular 9/2004 which provides for an accommodation allowance of up to €50.79 per week to be paid where it is necessary for a student to obtain accommodation away from his or her normal place of residence and a refund of travel expenses. Both are paid as refunds on production of receipts.

Concerning fourth year nursing and midwifery students, the HSE continues to fund the internship employment of these students who are on rostered work placements. This includes those due to commence rostered work placements in January 2021. These student nurses and midwives on rostered work placement are paid at the approved rate, that is, €22,229 on an annual basis for psychiatric nursing specialism and €21,749 for all other nursing disciplines and midwifery. These rates of pay are determined by HSE Circular 005/2016 and are the updated rates in accordance with the consolidated pay scales with effect from 1 October 2020.

In the immediate term, my Department reviewed a number of supports that applied to this year's supernumerary students which includes first, second and third year students and fourth year students from the period of September to December on clinical placements, taking into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on such placements.

Other supports available in 2020 for student nurses and midwives include access to the pandemic unemployment payment for those students who may have lost part-time employment due to Covid-19; enhanced Illness benefit for those students who work part-time but have fallen ill with Covid-19; other welfare schemes to assist with financial hardship due to illness, subject to qualifying criteria, for example, the supplementary welfare allowance and the urgent needs payment; access for eligible students to the national access plan contingency fund and the student assistance fund; and a €250 top-up for those in receipt of the Student Universal Student Ireland, SUSI, grant or a €250 contribution to fees to eligible students. Details of these schemes can be obtained from the Department of Social Protection.

Separately, and for the longer term, the Department is continuing with its review of the current accommodation and travel allowances payable to students on clinical placements. The outcome of this review will apply from the academic year commencing in autumn 2021 onwards. I look forward to examining the outcome of this review in due course.

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I am nearly lost for words. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to give us an update. He stated that we are going to compensate young women and men for not going to work in Captain America's on a Friday night so that they keep themselves safe and can go into the Mater, St. Vincent's, Blanchardstown and Drogheda hospitals to provide a service.We are going to compensate these young people if they get sick but we are not going to give them a few bob for the work they are doing in keeping our citizens safe, our hospitals running and ticking over in the manner which we have enjoyed for the past ten months. We have had a system of the delivery of healthcare because of every cog in the wheel is working. Our student nurses, from first to fourth year, are an integral part of that cog. By Jove, if they walked out tomorrow, we would know how much work they are actually doing.

Will the Minister of State tell the Department to review the health care assistant contract for autumn next year? While it might be welcome for the nurses then, it will do nothing for our young people working in the public health care system today. I am pleading with the Minister of State and the Minister for Health to re-evaluate, acknowledge and accept the dedication and hard work of these student nurses, as well as the learning in our hospitals. We must recognise with more than a round of applause the hard work being done by these young men and women.

Photo of Frank FeighanFrank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Doherty for raising this important issue. I reiterate our gratitude and pay tribute to student nurses, midwives and their healthcare colleagues who continue to deliver care right across the system during this unprecedented time.

The past nine months have demonstrated, more visibly than at any other time in our recent history, the dedication, skill and commitment of our healthcare workers. I am acutely aware that this was not without risk, particularly for everyone on the front line. In order to protect the education of these students, I look forward to bringing forward the details of the work under way within the Department when it is complete.

I will bring this back to the Minister to get it expedited. This issue is very much on the minds of many people. We hope the Department can look at this more favourably than this response.