Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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1076. To ask the Minister for Health if she has had any discussions with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science regarding recognition of clinical placements gained abroad for students studying physiotherapy outside Ireland; if there are plans to facilitate these students gaining experience/placements in Irish hospitals as part of their studies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2304/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Department of Health officials engage on an ongoing basis with colleagues in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that we train enough graduates with the skills necessary to support the delivery of health and social care services and to develop a strategic approach to workforce planning for the health sector.

There has been engagement between CORU, the regulatory body responsible for registering physiotherapists and the HSE, with a particular emphasis on those who have studied abroad.

When a graduate who has studied abroad applies for recognition of their qualification, and where a substantial deficit in meeting the standards of proficiency to practice as a physiotherapist in Ireland exists, the Physiotherapists Registration Board offer applicants for recognition a “compensation measure”, which is designed to address what is needed to bridge the gap or deficits to support safe practice and protect the public.

A compensation measure can take the form of a period of adaptation (supervised practice) or and an aptitude test. The HSE is working to develop the clinical infrastructure required to enable Health and Social Care Professionals qualified internationally to achieve recognition and registration with the regulatory body.

The HSE, through the National Health & Social Care Professional (HSCP) Office is working on a number of work-streams to support increasing capacity to deliver sustainable and scalable clinical placement opportunities for all HSCPs including physiotherapists. This will include meeting the needs of students who have qualified outside Ireland and who require periods of adaptation to have their qualifications recognised in Ireland.

My department continue to support the HSE to design and deliver a sustainable model to provide practice placements and compensation measures through a national coordinating approach through the National HSCP Office, in close collaboration with the HSE regions. This work includes education resources, events, multi-pronged communications and the establishment of core teams within each region to formalise and develop regional level HSCP clinical infrastructure. In addition, the HSE sought to create a new grade code specifically aligned to facilitating the completion of compensatory measures for those who have trained abroad and who require them. In 2024, the Department of Health sanctioned the creation of a grade titled Physiotherapy Adaptation.