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Review of Undergraduate Nursing and Midwifery Degree Programmes

Update March 2012

The Review Group has completed a consultation process involving submissions, focus groups and stakeholder meetings.

The Consultation Report is now available here.

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The Department of Health has commenced a review of the undergraduate nursing and midwifery degree programmes in order to establish their efficiency and effectiveness in preparing nurses and midwives to practice in the Irish healthcare system now and into the future. The undergraduate degree programmes have been in place since 2002 for nursing (general, psychiatric and intellectual disability nursing) and 2006 for midwifery and integrated children and general programmes. Undergraduate nursing and midwifery programmes should deliver graduates who are educated and prepared to practice in a modern health service contributing to effective service delivery. The review is guided by a Review Group representing key stakeholders. Professor Martin Bradley is the Review Group chair. Martin is recently retired Chief Nursing Officer Northern Ireland. His clinical background is in general and psychiatric nursing and nurse education. He has held a series of Senior Management and Director of Nurse Education posts in the Health and Social Care Services.

Terms of Reference

Terms of Reference for the Strategic Review of the Undergraduate Nursing and Midwifery Degree programmes

The Review Group has been established to oversee a review of the nursing and midwifery programmes having regard to the objectives of the current health reform programme, the future workforce needs of the public health system and the need to achieve value for money. This Review will be conducted on a modular basis consisting of the following elements:

An examination of:
- the content of the undergraduate programmes
- the structure of the current degree programmes including the separate points of entry, clinical placement requirements and governance arrangements.
An analysis of the number of student places required to ensure sufficient numbers of nurse and midwife graduates for new patterns of service delivery within the public health system.

The Review Group will consider the findings of both exercises and report to the Minister by September 2012. Following the completion of these exercises the Department of Education and Skills and the HEA in consultation with the higher education institutions will lead on the development of any changes required in relation to the organisation and delivery of nursing and midwifery degree programmes within the higher education system. This will take into account the broader education policy considerations in relation to demand for such programmes nationally and internationally and the overall funding implications involved and take full consideration of the findings of the report to the Minister for Health on workforce planning and curricula changes.