Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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151. To ask the Minister for Health if he will detail the engagements that his Department has had with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Innovation and Science, the HSE and the Higher Education Authority since July 2020 to identify skills shortages in health and social care and the need for additional further and higher education courses in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52463/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Health and Social Care workforce planning and ensuring a sufficient supply of suitably qualified healthcare professionals in Ireland is a top priority for the Government. My department is 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 to support a range of clinical teams in our health services. 

Officials from my Department engage on an ongoing basis with colleagues in the HSE, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and other relevant stakeholders including the Irish Medical Schools and Higher Education Institutions to ensure that we train enough graduates with the skills necessary to support the delivery of our health and social care services and to develop a strategic approach to workforce planning for the health sector.

Ongoing discussions between both Departments are in relation to increasing domestic supply on health-related courses such as medicine, nursing and health and social care disciplines in the short term to medium term, through the immediate provision of additional places, and the longer-term planning being undertaken around future skills needs in the context of future demand for health and social care services.

Working collaboratively with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the higher education sector, we have already made good progress in putting in place a multi-annual plan to deliver more medical places.  In July, Government approved an agreement between the Department of Health and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Medical Schools to phase in an increase of 200 additional Irish/EU medicine places. The first phase has seen an additional 60 places offered in September 2022.  The Medical Schools and both Departments have agreed to explore the potential to maximise the phasing in of these places in the coming years.

Further permanent additional places on healthcare disciplines were announced in July, including 135 places on nursing programmes commencing from September 2022. Significant engagement is ongoing between my department, NMBI and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in relation to a sustainable introduction of further additional places on nursing programmes.

The availability clinical placement supports are key enablers of this expansion, and engagement across my Department, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, the HSE and Higher Education Sector is ongoing. The Department of Health is continuing to work closely with officials in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science on other emerging workforce planning requirements including the provision of appropriate clinical placements for Health and Social Care Professionals.  A workshop on clinical placement issues is planned in the coming weeks and will involve the HSE and higher education providers. 

Health and social care courses are by their nature complex in delivery. Securing appropriate long-term clinical placements is a key element in unlocking additional provision.  It is important that any increases in places are introduced in a sustainable way so that Higher Education Institutions can build appropriate staffing capacity.