Richard Boyd Barrett urges bursary to boost nurse recruitment
Richard Boyd Barrett challenged the government on support for student nurses and allied health trainees, urging a substantial bursary to tackle staffing shortages. He argued that financial barriers deter trainees and contrasted Ireland's approach with Scotland's more generous support.
He called for a serious bursary for student nurses, midwives and allied health professionals to make training attractive and to help recruit the staff needed to address waiting lists, CDNTs, camps teams, and emergency departments.
He highlighted that in Scotland student nurses and allied health trainees receive 10,000 sterling a year as a bursary, creating a real incentive to enter nursing, midwifery and allied health professions, while many trainees at home face large transport and accommodation costs and limited assistance.
He acknowledged that there are now significantly more people working in the health service than a few years ago, citing an overall increase of 27,744 staff, including 9,185 more nurses and midwives, 4,160 more health and social care professionals, and 3,479 extra doctors and dentists.
He pressed the minister to introduce a substantial bursary and said he was open to engagement on improving supports for student nurses. He noted measures had already been taken by the minister on supports and subsistence and said further changes would be a matter for a future government after an election.
Main demand
He called for a serious bursary for student nurses, midwives and allied health professionals to make training attractive and to help recruit the staff needed to address waiting lists, CDNTs, camps teams, and emergency departments.
Comparison with Scotland
He highlighted that in Scotland student nurses and allied health trainees receive 10,000 sterling a year as a bursary, creating a real incentive to enter nursing, midwifery and allied health professions, while many trainees at home face large transport and accommodation costs and limited assistance.
Staffing numbers cited
He acknowledged that there are now significantly more people working in the health service than a few years ago, citing an overall increase of 27,744 staff, including 9,185 more nurses and midwives, 4,160 more health and social care professionals, and 3,479 extra doctors and dentists.
Government response and next steps
He pressed the minister to introduce a substantial bursary and said he was open to engagement on improving supports for student nurses. He noted measures had already been taken by the minister on supports and subsistence and said further changes would be a matter for a future government after an election.
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Transcript
You say you're trying to recruit people to address the staffing crisis in our hospitals, in our health services. I think the pay-a-numbers strategy proves that you're speaking out of both sides of your mouth on that issue. But setting that aside, if we are going to recruit the people we need into the health service, we need to make it attractive for people to train as nurses, as midwives, and in the allied health professions. And as I've highlighted a number of times in this, though, in Scotland, if you're a student nurse or midwife or allied health professional training, you get 10,000 sterling a year as a bursary to train. There's a real incentive to do nursing, to do midwifery, or to do the allied health professionals. Here, student nurses and many people, the allied health professionals, have massive financial barriers. They get very little financial assistance for transport, for their accommodation costs, and so on. Will you introduce a serious bursary of the sort that we have in Scotland for our student nurses, for our other allied health professionals who are trying to train in order to address the staffing crisis in our health service, the waiting lists, the crisis, and our CDNTs, and camps teams, and emergency departments? So you can absolutely always argue that we can do more and should do more in relation to the number of people working in the health service. What you can't dispute is the fact that there are now significantly more people working in the health service than there were only a few years ago. There's actually 27,744 more people working in the health service now than when this government came to office. That's 9,185 more nurses and midwives, 4,160 more health and social care professionals, and 3,479 extra doctors and dentists. So we can have a debate about health, but let's not pretend there are fewer people working in the health service than there were a few years ago. There are significantly more. You can only have one set of facts, Deputy. In relation to the issue about how we better support our student nurses, I am open to having engagement on that. A number of measures were already taken by Minister Donnelly in relation to improving the supports and subsistence, and I think now it will be a matter for a future government after an election to see what more can be done. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Matt.