A group was set up between the Chief Nurse in the Department of Health, the NMBI (nursing regulator, representatives from the higher education institutions and the HSE (service provider). They reviewed the options available from a regulator, education and service provision perspectives to identify a reasonable solution. The acknowledged that stopping placements would have significant disruption to the student's progress but also remove a valuable resource from the healthcare service. They established that each student would be offered a 3-month specialist temporary HCA contract where they could work full time (once their theory block was complete). if students had not completed their clinical learning hours then they could utilise some of the learning as an HCA to make up the hours, using reflective diaries, learning log or case presentations to demonstrate learning. These hours could be included in their total so that they could progress to the next year.
The contracts offered were also divided so as to best match the students skill sets. All general students were offered contracts to the main acute hospitals, however, mental health, childrens and intellectual disability students were contracts to their local community health organisations (primary care).
