SDLP Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan
The department has proposed axing 300 student nursing places as well as Allied Health training places at Ulster University, Magee Campus.
Impacted services including physiotherapy and occupational therapy are currently operating at a significant vacancy rate.
Mr Durkan said the myopic decision would deliver the final blow for a health service in turmoil.
He has asked the Permanent Secretary Peter May for clarity on the total number of student places impacted.
Said the Foyle MLA: “This news is utterly bleak – not only is cutting training places in Health Sciences; including Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry, Radiography, Radiotherapy and Oncology, completely counter-intuitive and disastrous for future provision and patients, but these cuts will impact Derry worse than elsewhere.
“We fought hard to get Health Sciences courses moved to Derry, bolstering student numbers at Magee yet now the number of places is being cut just two years since the places were announced to great fanfare.
“This decision also comes as a blow to those people who want to pursue a vocation in any of these fields but are now being told they can’t do it here.
“These decisions in the name of short-term savings, are tantamount to self-harm. The damage will be felt (and paid for) for years to come.
“It will create the perverse situation which will push more students from Northern Ireland to attend Health Science courses elsewhere while leaving the health service struggling to cope under ever diminishing resources, not to mention the patients unable to access life-changing and often life-saving support.”
