THE NUMBER of undergraduate nurse training places is to be cut by 16.5 per cent as part of new Government cutbacks, the State's largest trade union, Siptu, has stated.
Siptu said yesterday that the number of places is set to be reduced from 1,880 to 1,570.
Siptu's national nursing official, Louise O'Reilly, also said last night that the union understood that specialist practice courses would also be affected by the new cutbacks. She also maintained that the add-on conversion to degree programme for nurses would be ended.
Ms O'Reilly said she had written to the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, expressing "the anger and dismay" of union members at the proposed cutbacks in nurse education.
"The proposed cuts in nurse education will have far-reaching implications for the Irish health service," she said.
Ms O'Reilly said Siptu had called on the Minister to re-think the proposal "and take the decision to invest in the future of our health service for the generations to come".
"It is our understanding that it is proposed to cut undergraduate nurse training places by 16.5 per cent. This crude measure will only serve to curtail services into the future and we believe it will have a devastating impact on the delivery of frontline services for the most vulnerable in our society who depend on frontline healthcare professionals," she said.
"It is also our understanding that this proposal extends to include cutbacks on specialist practice courses and to end the add-on conversion to degree programme.
"We in Siptu can see no reason for this short-sighted measure. The HSE regularly reports that the system is heavily reliant on the use of overtime and the only way to cut the bill for overtime is to invest in nurse education and we urge you to withdraw this proposal and to act now to insure the future of healthcare delivery. We await your response to this request."
Ms O'Reilly said it appeared from contact with Siptu members in the third-level sector that all colleges would be affected by the cutbacks.
Further health service cutbacks are expected to emerge in the weeks ahead after the HSE prepares its service plan for the year on how it will spend its annual €14.7 billion budget.
The HSE last week warned trade unions that it could face a shortfall of about €300 million next year if it is to deliver the same level of services as in 2008. The HSE also warned that it would have to find about €112 million from its own resources to meet the cost of implementing the 3.5 per cent pay rise due to its 110,000 staff next September under the proposed new national pay deal.
No specific additional increase was provided in the Exchequer allocation to the HSE to meet the cost of the pay rises.
The HSE is due to submit its service plan to Ms Harney for approval in early November.