Written answers

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

Department of Health

Nursing Staff Recruitment

Photo of Michael MoynihanMichael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health his plans to train and recruit more public health nurses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13848/13]

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Public Health Nurse is responsible for the delivery of the public health nursing service for specific geographic areas. The scope and range of public health nursing services are aligned to the health service demand that emerges from the population demographics and epidemiology. This demand varies depending on the complexity of health service requirements in geographic areas such as deprivation, cohort of frail older adults, extent of child health interventions, prevalence of chronic diseases etc.

The future planning of public health nursing posts will be based on identified service need and undertaken within the context of available resources to the HSE.

PHN training is delivered at post graduate level and numbers are determined by the HSE according to service need, including retirements and workforce planning. There are currently 40 PHNs in training, scheduled to graduate this year and work within the public health system when vacancies arise. The HSE has yet to determine the number of training places to be offered this year for graduation in 2014.

In 2013, Primary Care funding of €20m, nationally, will be invested to support the recruitment of prioritised front-line primary care team posts and enhance the capacity of the primary care sector. The HSE's 2013 National Service Plan has identified approximately 250 Primary Care posts (including Public Health Nurses (PHNs), Registered General Nurses (RGNs), Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Speech and Language Therapists). These posts will be filled using the Resource Allocation model, based on deprivation and need, which was developed by the HSE's National Primary Care Office and Health Intelligence Unit.

Using this model, the HSE completed a detailed analysis of the numbers and distribution of the above health care professionals. The analysis revealed considerable variation across the 17 Integrated Service Areas in ratios of health care professionals to population, and to population numbers in areas of high deprivation. Based on this analysis, it proposed that of the approximate 250 posts, 70 Public Health Nurses and 37 Registered General Nurses will be recruited to Primary Care Teams. It is my firm intention, along with my colleague Minister of State Alex White, to have these posts filled as soon as possible in 2013.

I am confident that these additional posts will have a positive impact on the ongoing development of services in the community, giving people direct access to integrated multi-disciplinary teams of health professionals.

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