Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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1021. To ask the Minister for Health his plans for a supplementary payment to student radiographers in view of plans to issue a payment and-or grant to student nurses. [1450/21]

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1022. To ask the Minister for Health if consideration will be given to pay or provide travel and accommodation allowances to student radiographers to bring them in line with other trainee medics. [1451/21]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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1048. To ask the Minister for Health if he will address the issues regarding the payment of allowances to student radiographers (details supplied). [1615/21]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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1066. To ask the Minister for Health if he will restore payment to four fourth year student radiographers for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1685/21]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1074. To ask the Minister for Health if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding student radiographers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1730/21]

Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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1078. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to a campaign led by student radiographers seeking greater supports similar to those provided to student nurses to reflect their ongoing care of the Covid-19 patients and front-line status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1746/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1021, 1022, 1048, 1066, 1074 and 1078 together.

Radiography students do not receive an allowance to support time spent on placement as part of their course and there are no plans to change this.  

I can also confirm that in 2020, assistant radiographers were employed on a 3 month contract following completion of their final year clinical placement, subject to the needs of the Health Service.  As their skills were identified as being required during the COVID-19 response and subject to the needs of each acute hospital, they were offered a temporary 3 month assistant radiographer role following successful completion of their 7 week final year clinical placement. The 3-month period commenced on 18 May 2020. 

It should be noted that across the health and social care disciplines, there could be over 8,000 students on placement in hospital and healthcare settings.  Of this number, around a third are final year students.  The length of placements and the activities performed during these placements vary between the disciplines. These students are not employees and in many cases the nature of the placement can, in the main, be limited to participation in an observing and a learning capacity.

Uniquely for student nurses and midwives there is, in the final year, a paid salary when they are specifically employed on an internship placement. Student nurses and midwives’ final year internship placement consists of a continual 36-week rostered clinical placement, including annual leave. The internship placement is a paid placement as the student nurses and midwives take a reduced caseload. During these placements, students are under supervision and are considered as 0.5 WTE of the workforce. In addition, Intern students can be allocated across all shift patterns including nights, weekends and 12-hour days.

Student nurses and midwives undertaking unpaid supernumerary clinical placement as students are currently in receipt of an allowance. Again, given the unique requirements of these training programmes attendance at many placement sites is required, some of which are at a distance to base training hospital and the current allowance is to contribute to the cost of alternative accommodation/travel.