Nearly 80 percent of student nurses due to qualify in September plan to leave the country to find work.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) conducted a survey of 1,500 student nurses and midwives which revealed that 78 percent of them are planning to move abroad to work. However, of those surveyed, 79 percent would consider staying in Ireland after they qualify if they were offered a permanent contract here. The research found that Irish student nurses are being approached by overseas recruitment agencies 50 percent more than the HSE. The INMO is calling on the HSE to make more of an effort to incentivise nurses to stay in the Irish public healthcare sector. According to the survey, student nurses said the HSE would have to increase pay, improve staffing and working conditions, and provide access to post-graduate education, to make them want to stay and work at home. The HSE has defended its efforts saying it is committed to making permanent employment opportunities available to student nurses. Minister for Health, Simon Harris, has also promised to hire at least 1,200 qualified nurses this year, in an effort to avoid the record high numbers of patients waiting on hospital trolleys that we saw last winter.