Where is the student nurses pay report?
Labour spokesperson for higher and further education Annie Hoey has called on Minister Donnelly to publish the ‘Review of Matters Relating to Student Nurses and Midwives’ report. Over six months after the Government kicked a Labour Party Bill to pay student nurses to touch, Senator Hoey said student nurses and midwives have had enough of platitudes from this Government.
Senator Hoey said:
“At the beginning of a new college term, Minister Donnelly needs to come forward with his report into paying student midwives and nurses. Last February the Government cynically let my Bill pass but has not taken any actual action to improve the situation and actually pay them. I support the call of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) for the Minister to provide an update of the review immediately.
“As well as being totally wrong to expect student nurses and midwives to work for pittance, I’m really concerned that a lack of pay is a barrier to students considering a career in nursing and midwifery. Students don’t have the time or energy to do part-time work to support themselves whilst on placement, yet the Government still expect them to afford astronomical rents in the cities and the daily cost of living.
“We are emerging from the pandemic but hospitals remain over crowded and under resourced. There is no one in Ireland that doesn’t appreciate nurses, but a big bualadh bos means very little to struggling student nurses who may not be able to continue their placement due to the financial burden they have been placed under. The Minister needs to urgently provide an update and rectify the situation for students.”