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Archive 2022
A call for action after the publication of the Report of the Expert Review Body on Nursing and Midwifery 2022
The Minister for Health has published the Report of the Expert Review Body on Nursing and Midwifery 2022 – A Pathway for developing and strengthening the role of the Nurse & Midwife.
The report contains 47 recommendations that will support nurses and midwives to continue to learn and develop in professional roles, enabling significant reform and ensuring that critical Sláintecare priorities are realised.
See page 9 of report for the recommendations- https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/32783-report-of-the-expert-review-body-on-nursing-and-midwifery/
UCC’s Head of School Professor Josephine Hegarty welcomes the Report of the Expert Review Body on Nursing and Midwifery 2022 whilst emphasizing the urgency of the need to “increase undergraduate student numbers”, with appropriate resources, “in line with the projected workforce demands” for nurses and midwives. Globally the World Health Organisation estimates that there is seven million too few nurses and midwives. The International Council of Nurses notes that in 2019 Australia had 108.9 graduate nurses per 100,000 population whilst Ireland had 28.9. There is an urgent need to increase the domestic supply of nurses and midwives to meet the ongoing and future health service workforce demands. Year on year well over half of the first-time registrants who join the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland register come from outside of Ireland. In 2020 out of the 3,716 first time nursing and midwifery registrants with NMBI 1,474 (39.7%) were educated in Ireland with 60.3% coming from outside of Ireland. There is a direct link between the nursing shortage and not having enough nursing and midwifery students on our undergraduate programmes. The other contributors to the nursing shortage are 1. Increasing population and an aging population which increases the level of care required 2. Demand within health services far exceeds the supply of nurses and midwives 3. Staff burnout is projected to lead to more nurses leaving health care services 4. Retirements, loss to other employment opportunities (outside of nursing) and migration. Nursing is a knowledge-intensive profession built upon years of on-the-job experience, intensive education, and training, thus strategizing to retain nurses and midwives within the health services in critical.
A special thank you to Professor Jonathan Drennan (UCC) and Bridie O’Sullivan (S/SWHG) who were members of the Expert Review Body.