Government approves major expansion in health and social care training places

Government has approved a significant expansion in training places for Health and Social Care Professions (HSCPs), a move that will see up to 320 additional student places created in 2025 and a further 141 in subsequent years, in disciplines critical to disability, health, and education services.

Welcoming the formal announcement of this expansion, Tipperary Independent TD, Deputy Michael Lowry says that the provision of increased and more accessible training opportunities in this area was a key issue in the Regional Group’s submission during Government Formation Talks.

‘We had identified the existing and ever-growing requirement to train more people in these crucial areas in order to meet increased current and future demand. It was imperative that timely and proactive moves were made to address this ever-growing need’ he says.

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The decision follows a joint proposal led by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS), in collaboration with the Department of Health, Department of Children, Disability, Equality (DCDE), and Department of Education and Youth, supported by the Higher Education Authority(HEA) and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

This immediate expansion will be in nine key HSCP areas: Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Radiation Therapy, Radiography, Podiatry, Social Work, Medical Science, and Dietetics.

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These additional places follow a recent Expression of Interest (EoI) process led by the HEA, which identified capacity across 11 Higher Education Institutions to grow existing programmes.

Places have been proposed in Atlantic Technological University, Dublin City University, Maynooth University, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, Technological University Dublin, Technological University of the Shannon, University College Cork, University College Dublin and the University of Limerick.