The Minister for Health this afternoon reported significant progress in tackling nursing shortages claiming over 1,800 more nurses are in the system compared with 1997.
In a response to a Dáil question from Fine Gael TD, Mr Seymour Crawford, asking the minister to compare nursing and administrative levels for 1997 with 2000, Mr Martin said 29,290 nurses were now employed, a rise of 1,864 compared to 1997.
He continued the most recent survey of nursing vacancies conducted by the Health Services Employers Agency (HSEA) on January 31st 2001 reported 1,315 nursing vacancies.
This is off-set by agency nurses filling 423 posts while overtime covers 592 of the remainder leaving 300 net vacancies, the report claims.
However, recruitment of nurses from abroad could soon almost alleviate shortages. More than 1,220 work permits were issued to nurses from non-EU countries between June 2000 and April 2001 and hundreds more are being processed.
The worst affected region was the Eastern Regional Health Authority region which reported a total of 1,148 vacancies - excluding the learning disability sector.
The HSEA report shows that 4,226 nurses were recruited in the year ending January 31st 2001 and during that time 2,954 resigned or retired during the same period.
The number of management and administrative staff increased to 12,338 in 2000, up from 8,794 in 1997. The Minister added that 600 nurses are working in GP's practices.
The minister said training places had been increased by 300 last year to 1,500 places and an additional 40 places were created this year.
Mr Martin said many of the larger Dublin hospitals including Beaumont and the Mater Hospitals were on course to eliminate or reduce to single figures their nursing shortages.
