Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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1423. To ask the Minister for Health if he intends to extend the enhanced travel and subsistence scheme for student nurses and midwives to student doctors also known as medical students, who face the same costs in relation to meals, subsistence, scrubs purchase, laundering and travel to placement sites; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1197/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Student Doctors do not receive an allowance to support time spent on placement as part of their course.  There are no plans to change this. 

The Deputy may be aware that across the health and social care disciplines, there are a large number of students on placement in hospital and healthcare settings, approximately a third of which are final year students.  The length of placements and the activities performed during these placements vary between the disciplines. These students are not employees therefore not paid, 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.

Clinical practice placements form 50% of the overall education programme requirements for student nurses and midwives, where 100% attendance at supernumerary practice placement (45 weeks) is mandatory to complete the degree programme. The enhanced travel and subsistence scheme for student nurses and midwives undertaking supernumerary clinical placement arose following recommendation from the McHugh Report which was an examination of the existing arrangements regarding additional travel, subsistence and accommodation requirements of student nurses and midwives on clinical placement specifically. Supernumerary students are not included in the staffing complement and are not in receipt of a salary. They learn under the supervision of a registered nurse/midwife and are not accountable for patient care.  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.

Some practice placement locations are not accessible by public transport and require student nurses and midwives to travel by car or make personal arrangements. There are considerable variances in the distances students are required to travel to attend mandatory practice placements depending on the undergraduate programme they are undertaking and the location of that programme.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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1424. To ask the Minister for Health if, as part of the Government's commitment to retaining doctors in Ireland, a medical intern doctor job will be made available to every eligible graduating doctor in an Irish medical school in 2023 similar to that which was offered during the Covid-19 pandemic. [1198/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Policy regarding the allocation of medical intern places was put in place in 2016 to ensure that CAO entry medical graduates are guaranteed an internship post following completion of their medical degree. It is a priority that CAO graduates have access to an internship in order that they may qualify as a doctor, obtain full registration with the Medical Council of Ireland, and chose to seek permanent employment in the Irish Health Services.

This protects the State investment in the undergraduate education of medical students. In addition, it supports Ireland’s commitment under the World Health Organization’s Global Code on the Recruitment of International Health Personnel to strive for self-sufficiency in the domestic training of doctors. Under this policy all eligible CAO applicants have been allocated an intern post since 2016.

Applicants for a medical internship are applying for an employment position in the HSE. They are recruited directly by the HSE, as their employer. The HSE applies the Employment Permits legislation in the recruitment for intern posts. In compliance with the Employment Permits Act an order of merit based on work permit status is applied whereby all eligible CAO entrants to Irish medical schools who are work permit exempt are guaranteed an intern post. Remaining posts are allocated to all remaining eligible EEA applicants, followed by all remaining eligible non-EEA applicants.

The number of medical intern places is determined by medical workforce planning requirements. In 2021 I requested the HSE to provide an increase of 120 permanent additional medical intern posts from July 2021 onwards. This represented an increase of 16% on the previous pre pandemic level of medical intern intake and reflects a more sustainable level of internships post COVID-19.

There were 854 medical Intern posts available for the 2022/23 training year. This number is aligned with the number of training posts available at the next stage of medical postgraduate training pathway and medical workforce demand estimates.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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1425. To ask the Minister for Health the current status of the HSE pension for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1201/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is an operational matter for the Health Service Executive, I have asked the HSE to reply directly to the Deputy.