Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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1773. To ask the Minister for Health with reference to Parliamentary Question No. 214 of 2 December 2021, if he will provide this Deputy with a copy of the report of the national psychology project team; the status of the establishment of a national psychology placement office; the status of the workforce plan for psychology; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30231/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Report of the Psychology Review Implementation Group in 2017 expanded the care group employment available to counselling and educational psychologists. The report’s recommendation led to the establishment of a Project Team to implement this recommendation.

In February 2019, HSE Community Operations convened a Project Team, chaired by Dr Cathal Morgan, comprised of representatives from Clinical, Counselling and Educational Psychology; Social Care, Disability, and Mental Health services; Community and Acute services; Operational and National HR; and the Health and Social Care Professions office.

The Project Team was tasked with, inter alia, considering the preparation of a workforce plan for psychological services in the HSE, including an examination of the current framework for training psychologists for the health service, and the type, and skill-mix, required for the future. The work of the Project Team has been informed by a thorough stakeholder consultation process.

The Report of the National Psychology Project Team – Establishment of a National Psychology Placement Office and Workforce Planning was completed in January 2021 and is available on the HSE website at Report of the National Psychology Project Team: (hse.ie). The Report contains a plan to address a range of matters in relation to psychology through the establishment of a placement office and a workforce plan for psychological services.

Implementation of the report’s recommendations and the creation of a National Psychology Placement Office are a matter for the HSE to prioritise in the context of available resources and as part of the wider HSCP practice placement challenges in the context of their service planning processes for 2022 and beyond.