Trinity has defied national trends of those applying to nursing on the CAO, with the Head of the School of Nursing in Trinity, and the Student/New Graduate Officer for the Irish Nursing and Midwifery Organisation (INMO) describing the national decrease in applicants as “worrying”.
The figures for the first round of applications to the CAO were published last week, with the number of people applying for nursing falling by 10 per cent, the largest drop in any level eight course. The first round of applications closed in February.
Speaking to The University Times, the Head of the Trinity’s School of Nursing, Prof Catherine Comiskey, said that “Trinity’s numbers are up considerably from last year, all our degrees are up”. The overall decrease, she said, comes as a surprise.
Liam Conway, the Student/New Graduate Officer of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) described it as a “worrying trend”, speaking to The University Times. He cautioned, however, that too much shouldn’t be read into the figures ahead of the final closing date for CAO applications later in the year.
“The real proof in the pudding is when it comes to September and the offers are out and you see if there is a decrease in the amount of people applying”, Conway said. Comiskey echoed this by saying that “trends change from month to month”, but continued to say that as a profession “we need to keep an eye on it”.
Conway and Comiskey both said that the recent threatened strike action of nurses over staff retention rates could have been an influencing factor for those filling out the CAO over the last six months.
Nurses and midwives of the INMO had balloted to strike over high staff turnover rates and recruitment rates, which have led to poor working conditions in hospitals. The strike, which was due to take place last week, was called off to facilitate talks between the unions and the Health Service Executive (HSE). This is the latest dispute between the government and nursing unions, who have had a fractious relationship in recent years as the union has sought concessions from the government on everything from the retention of nurses to the wages paid to student nurses.
Conway said that the INMO are currently re-balloting members, asking whether they should go ahead with a strike, and the results of the ballot will be known by the end of the month.
Conway explained that currently the INMO are conducting surveys among fourth-year nursing interns, and said that “70 per cent of nurses are being approached from overseas by the NHS [National Health Service] and further abroad, but they haven’t been approached by the HSE as of yet”.
“The HSE have said that ‘yes there is a problem’ when it comes to retention rates within the service, but they haven’t done anything about, it as of yet”, Conway commented.
Equally, however, Conway suggested that the steadily rising points for Irish nursing courses might also have contributed to the decline in the number of people applying to the degree. The cost of living, especially in cities like Dublin and Cork, where the largest concentration of nursing places are, could also be a “significant” factor in discouraging people from applying, he said.
Conway is optimistic, despite the figures. “If someone wants to be a nurse they’ll be a nurse, if someone wants to be a midwife they’ll be a midwife”, he said.
Trinity’s School of Nursing has five undergraduate degrees in nursing: mental health, general, pediatric, intellectual disability, and midwifery. Nursing is currently Trinity’s only subject still with the top 50 of the newly released QS World University Subject Rankings, and one of only two in the top 100, in 36th position.
Commenting on the figures Comiskey said that she was “delighted, absolutely delighted they recognised the contribution of the staff”.
