To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to detail (i) the strategic approach his Department is taking to meet future demand for nurses; and (ii) whether this planning includes nurses in both the statutory and independent sectors.

A Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Plan has been completed by my Department and is currently being considered by officials. It makes a series of recommendations including the need for a strategic approach to the future supply and demand of nursing and to making the Health and Social Care sector in Northern Ireland an “Employer of Choice”. The Plan also recommends that further examination is undertaken of the nursing workforce in the independent sector as it has proven difficult to collate figures. The Health and Social Care Board is currently in the process of carrying out this further work.