Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1123. To ask the Minister for Health her plans to introduce specialist public health nurses as proposed in the national early years policy framework; the number and the cost; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47634/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Public Health Nursing Service is delivered by the HSE with a combination of Public Health Nurses (PHN) and Community Registered General Nurses (CRGN). The Public Health Nursing service provides care across the entire lifespan to individuals, families and communities. The services provided by PHNs vary based on patient need and they act as a point of access for other community care services.

All PHNs are registered general nurses with a specialist level 9 post graduate nursing qualification and are registered in the Public Health Nurse Division of the NMBI register. This specialist post graduate qualification uniquely qualifies the PHN to carry out the developmental screening of children under the National Healthy Childhood Programme (NHCP).

One of the aims of First 5, A Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families 2019-2028, is to resource and support the implementation, expansion and enhancement of the NHCP to ensure it better addresses the needs of babies, young children and families, enabled by the development of a dedicated child health workforce.

In order to progress this aim, a Steering Group was created in 2019 to commence work on the establishment of a dedicated child health workforce. However, as a result of the re-prioritisation of work in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Steering Group did not progress at that time until it was reconvened in 2023. A Draft Report prepared based on the work of the Steering Group is currently under review.