James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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97. To ask the Minister for Health the steps that he and the HSE will undertake to retain newly qualified healthcare professionals in Ireland who are educated in Irish universities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7738/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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All of our health care graduates from Irish colleges are a key resource to our public health service.

I along with Minister Harris have announced an agreement with Irish Medical Schools to increase the number of places available for Irish/EU students by 200 over the next 5 years. This increases the number of undergraduate places available to 930 Irish/EU student places by 2026.

We are seeking to continue the unprecedented growth in all staff categories which began in 2020 and has continued in 2021 and 2022.

The HSE have a number of initiatives to maximise the candidate pool.

- All nursing and midwifery graduates have been offered permanent contracts in our health service, in advance of their graduation and subsequent registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.

- A similar approach is being taken for all health and social care professional graduates in which each will be offered permanent positions following large scale national campaigns. Every support and encouragement are being afforded to these graduates to encourage them towards employment in the Irish health services.

- The Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix(SSF) is an evidenced based methodology to determine safe nurse staffing levels and skill mix in a variety of care settings across the healthcare system. In 2022 nine pilot sites were chosen to test Phase 3(i) of the Framework.

- In September 2022, the National Taskforce on non-consultant hospital doctors was established. The purpose of the Taskforce is to put in place sustainable workforce planning strategies and policies to address and improve NCHD experience to support present and future retention of NCHDs in Ireland.

The following initiatives are currently available to graduates

1. Opportunity to work in and across specialty locations

2. Professional Development and mentorship programmes

3. Additional Career pathways: in recent years there has been an increase in Advanced Nurse Practitioner roles and the introduction of an Enhanced Nurse Contract (subject to qualifying criteria)

The HSE have commenced the Recruitment Reform & Resourcing Program to lead out on the development of a Resourcing Strategy to meet the current and future needs of the organisation. A core element of this work will involve enhancing the organisation’s capacity to attract, develop, retain and engage the workforce that will ensure a sufficient domestic supply of health care staff, maximising self-sufficiency within the Irish state for the resourcing and delivery of publicly funded health services for the future.