Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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1346. To ask the Minister for Health if any consideration has been given to fast-tracking the medical registration of Ukrainian health care professionals in order to ensure that any available doctors and nurses are in a position to assist in our health staff recruitment crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63887/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Officials from my Department have been working closely with colleagues in the six health profession regulators to examine ways to support all Ukrainian health practitioners arriving in the State. The regulators fully recognise the importance of assisting these practitioners and have been actively examining the measures that might need to be taken to support them to join their registers where possible and to gain employment in the health service.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Medical Council is the statutory agency responsible for the registration and regulation of doctors in Ireland. It is committed to supporting doctors arriving from Ukraine seeking to work in this jurisdiction.  The Medical Council has established an internal working group to examine ways in which it can support these doctors, it has met with the Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland and it has a dedicated email address and webpage with information for Ukrainian doctors.

The HSE has also been heavily engaged in this and is working on providing employment pathways for those with health care qualifications and experience. The HSE is currently exploring the possibility of observer roles in clinical areas while doctors are awaiting full registration and is working closely with the Medical Council in this regard.  The HSE has a web portal open to Ukrainian practitioners who wish to register their interest in working in healthcare and it communicates regularly to inform them of updates in relation to their profession.

It has become clear that medical English language training is particularly required to assist many of the applicants to meet the standards necessary for registration. In this regard, I am pleased to advise the Deputy that I recently approved a funding package for medical English language training to assist Ukrainian doctors and dentists in gaining registration here. The HSE are currently finalising the application and operational details and will be communicating shortly with Ukrainian practitioners, in conjunction with the regulators and the Ukrainian Embassy.

Further funding will also be made available to support Ukrainian health care professionals to meet additional costs which may be associated with achieving recognition and which may be outside the control of the regulators, such as professional competence exams. These supports will ensure that practitioners will not be precluded from registering because of financial barriers. 

I would like to assure the Deputy that I fully appreciate the importance of assisting health professionals from Ukraine to gain registration here. However, it is important that this is done in a safe manner which recognises the differences in training and language that exist between our systems of medical education and practise. The medical language training as well as the creation of suitable roles in the health service will greatly assist those in meeting the standards for registration and it is expected that significant progress will be made this year.