Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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47. To ask the Minister for Health how he can help to resolve the serious delays in the registration of nurses, which are preventing many qualified nurses from home and abroad from taking up available positions. [13746/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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At the outset, I would like to say that the delay in the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NBMI) responding to your previous question of 21 April 2016 is regretted. This reply encompasses both this question and your previous question of 21 April 2016.

As of 31 May, 2016, a total of 803 nurses and midwives have been registered by the NMBI since 1 January 2016. In addition, 681 applicants have been issued with decision letters setting out what they must do to progress to the final stage of registration.

The NMBI fully recognises the challenges being experienced by health service employers in the public and the private sector and the NMBI is meeting and liaising with employers to address the registration issues. The NMBI is also liaising with a large number of recruitment agencies on a daily and weekly basis to support the recruitment and registration process. Senior NMBI staff are also endeavouring to explore the best ways of improving the efficiency of the existing process, whilst still maintaining the standards of education and professional competence required to enable registration. A new streamlined application form and information booklet was also launched earlier this year.

Various measures including enhanced website functionality, additional staff appointments and ongoing process improvement work by NMBI staff is assisting in making headway in the management of the increasing volumes of applications received by the NMBI to facilitate new nurses and midwives entering the Irish health system as quickly as possible without compromising standards.

While NMBI has registered 803 nurses and midwives in 2016 to date and issued 681 applicants with decision letters, there are a further 1,947 applications unable to progress to assessment stage due to incomplete documentation being submitted by applicants who have all been contacted in this regard. It should be noted that as well as a completed application form, overseas applicants must send in identity documents and arrange for other supporting documents to be sent directly to NMBI. These include a transcript of their education programme, a certificate confirming registration and good standing as a nurse, as well as a reference from their current or most recent employer. Only when these documents have been received can the application for registration be assessed. It is incumbent on recruitment agencies and employers to emphasise to applicants that it is their responsibility to ensure all relevant documents are sent to NMBI. Since March 1, applicants have six months from the date of application to submit all of their documentation, otherwise their application will be closed. Previously, applicants had twelve months to submit their documentation.

It is important to note that the decision following this assessment may not always be registration. The outcome can be to seek further information/clarification from the applicant, to register, to refuse registration, or to advise the applicant they must successfully complete a period of adaptation and assessment as a pre-requisite to registration. In late 2015, the NMBI approved, on a pilot basis, an aptitude test developed by the RCSI as an alternative option to undergoing a period of adaptation and assessment and this is proving a successful and popular alternative. NMBI has now approved the initiative for a further two years, which will facilitate 40 applicants to take the test monthly.

It should also be noted that the NMBI is working with Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) to explore ways of encouraging the large amount of nurses on the inactive part of the Register in Ireland to recommence practising. The provision of Return to Nursing Practice programmes by the HSE is also supporting this initiative.