Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 267: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to introduce regulations to add to the categories of health and social care professionals that are included under the Health and Social Care Act (2004) to specifically include music therapists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35893/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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The Health and Social Care Professionals Act was passed by the Oireachtas in 2005 and provides for the establishment of a system of statutory registration for 12 health and social care professions. The 12 professions to be regulated under the Act are clinical biochemists, dieticians, medical scientists, occupational therapists, orthoptists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, radiographers, social care workers, social workers, and speech and language therapists.

The structure of the system of statutory registration will comprise a registration board for each of the professions to be registered, a Health and Social Care Professionals Council with overall responsibility for the regulatory system and a committee system to deal with disciplinary matters. The first step in the implementation of the system of statutory registration was the establishment of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council in March 2007, for the purpose of protecting the public and promoting high standards of professional conduct, education and competence among these professions. The Council is now being established on a phased basis and has already carried out considerable work on developing Governance arrangements, financial management systems, fitness to practice procedures, ICT requirements and other such issues that will be needed to support the establishment and functioning of all Registration Boards. The Council has already examined which professions from within the designated twelve are most suitable for early registration, the first of which, the Social Workers Registration Board, was established recently. It is envisaged that further progress in bringing additional registration boards on-stream will be made over the coming months. While the proposed system of statutory registration applies, in the first instance, to twelve health and social care professions, the legislation empowers the Minister for Health and Children to include, on the basis of specific criteria, additional health and social care professions in the regulatory system over time, as appropriate. Section 4 of the 2005 Act sets out the criteria governing the subsequent addition of any further professions into the regulatory system at a later date, including: (a) the extent to which the profession has a defined scope of practice and applies a distinct body of knowledge (b) the extent to which the profession has established itself, including whether there is at least one professional body representing a significant proportion of the profession's practitioners; (c) the existence of defined routes of entry into the profession and of independently assessed entry qualifications; (d) the profession's commitment to continuous professional development; (e) the degree of risk to the health, safety or welfare of the public from incompetent, unethical or impaired practice of the profession; (f) any other factors that the Minister for Health and Children considers relevant.

The priority for the Health and Social Care Professionals Council is to establish statutory registration for the twelve designated health and social care professions in the first instance. The issue of inclusion of other grades, such as music therapists, within the scope of statutory registration will be considered after the initial designated twelve professional grades have been fully dealt with.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 268: To ask the Minister for Health and Children to acknowledge that Co-operation and Working Together has approved €2.3 million funding for a consultant urologist at Letterkenny General Hospital; to acknowledge that the Health Service Executive recruitment embargo is blocking the appointment of the consultant urologist even though the CAWT funding is available; if she will derogate the embargo to facilitate a quick appointment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35896/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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Cooperation And Working Together (CAWT) has been appointed by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Northern Ireland and the Department of Health & Children as Delivery Agent for the INTERREG IV (Health) Programme. A number of projects are being taken forward under the Programme including the development of existing Urology Services in Letterkenny Hospital. This includes the appointment of a Consultant Urologist and support team.

Under the Employment Control Framework for the Health Sector, there are a number of conditions whereby specified grades, including medical consultants, are exempted from the moratorium on recruitment and promotion. Replacement posts can be filled and new posts may be created once the overall target reduction in numbers of 1,520 in 2010 is being met.

Detailed discussions are ongoing between the Hospital Manager and both the Regional Director of Operations and the Assistant National Director of Human Resources, HSE to progress the appointment of the Consultant Urologist.