Written answers

Thursday, 7 July 2022

Department of Education and Skills

Third Level Admissions

Photo of David CullinaneDavid Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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66. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to increase undergraduate and graduate entry places for medical, nursing, health, social care and well-being further and higher education places in 2022 and 2023; the number of places he will add; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34615/22]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Ensuring an appropriate pipeline of suitably qualified healthcare professionals is a key priority. The challenges presented by Covid-19 have given extra urgency to the need to address the long-term workforce planning needs of the health system. My Department is strongly committed to supporting the health of the population through the provision of graduates with the key competencies and skills to be effective in the health workforce, and support a range of clinical teams in our health services.

I recently announced 1,056 extra college places for September 2022, which includes places on welfare and nursing programmes. In the coming weeks, the Minister for Health and I will bring a memo to Government to outline a five-year plan to secure extra places in medicine.

The Programme for Government commits the Department of Health to working with the education sectors, regulators, and professional bodies to improve the availability of health professionals and reform their training to support integrated care across the entire health service.

The Department of Health is receiving technical support under the European Commission Technical Support Instrument (TSI) 2021 to develop a Health and Social Care Workforce Planning Strategy and Workforce Planning Projection Model based on international best practice.

A key outcome of project is the development of the necessary tools, processes, and technical capacity to produce rolling health and social care workforce planning action plans and implement targeted policy measures for health and social care workforce reform. Officials in my Department are engaging with the Department of Health and the project team to support this outcome.

I will ensure that there is continued engagement with all stakeholders to ensure that we deliver graduates with the skills necessary to support our healthcare system and support the strategic workforce planning by the health sector.

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