Student nurses deserve fair pay during placement

Local TD Seán Crowe has said that it is unacceptable that the issue of pay for student nurses has been ignored for so long, especially as student nurses stepped up during the COVID health crisis and kept our health service afloat. Teachta Crowe said: “Student nurses deserve to be paid during their placement. For too long, this has been written off as part of their training with no consideration given to their long working hours or importance in a critically understaffed health service.
 
“Some nurses receive €50 a week during their placement, many others receive nothing at all. This is an unsustainable system which forced student nurses into part-time jobs while already working a 35 hour week in our hospitals. And during the summer, they were told they couldn’t even work part-time due to the risk of cross-contamination of workplaces. “We failed to protect our nurses throughout COVID, with 50 nurses a week either contracting COVID or being forced to self-isolate as a result of close contact with cases. This only put further pressure on a system that has failed to adequately recruit and retain nurses for years. “4,000 student nurses and midwives stepped into the breach and kept our health service afloat while the government was scrambling to come up with a response. That, if nothing else, should compel the government to come to the table with a plan to make sure that our student nurses are fairly paid for their time in placement.
 
“Garda and Defence Forces recruits are paid during their training, so why not nurses? “We need a plan to attract students to the nursing and midwifery profession in the face of global competition. This means addressing the key issues of working conditions, facilities, supports, training opportunities, and pay.”