The NUI Galway Students’ Union voted unanimously to condemn the HSE’s “attack” on student nurses.
Students at NUI Galway have reacted angrily to news that the number of nursing degree places throughout the country are to be reduced by more than 300 next year.
At a general meeting of the student union this week , students representing disciplines from across the university voted unanimously to condemn the HSE’s actions as appalling.
NUI Galway nursery and midwifery departments will be the hardest hit and will lose 28 per cent of their nursing intake from October representing a drop of 40 places in the university alone.
From January 1, 2009, the HSE is also discontinuing a funding initiative which allows nurses and midwives, trained under the apprenticeship and diploma models and undertaking Access and BNS/BMS part-time degrees, to have their courses’ fees paid.
SU president, Muireann O’Dwyer said: “This is yet another example of a short sighted knee jerk reaction that will make a bad situation much worse.
“ By cutting the supply of nurses to our already stretched health system, the HSE has ensured that the effects of this cut will be suffered by the general public for years to come.
“This cut will wreak havoc on both the health sector and the education sector for the foreseeable future.”
