Nurses are likely to be given greater powers to manage and run certain health services and to administer drugs to patients under the Minister for Health, Ms Harney.
The Tánaiste said yesterday she favoured the idea of advance nurse practitioners running minor injury units in hospital accident and emergency departments, which would cut down on waiting times for patients attending casualty. She also expressed surprise that nurses, under current regulations, "can't even give somebody a panadol".
Addressing a meeting of A&E nurse members of the Irish Nurses' Organisation, she acknowledged they were working under stressful conditions.
There were again 140 patients on trolleys in A&E units across the State yesterday and Ms Harney said she regretted this. She said there were steps which if taken might help solve the problem.
"We need medical assessment units and we need to quickly advance what I would broadly call the nurse practitioner model which I know has been introduced in one Dublin A&E where I understand there are four nurses, advanced nurse practitioners, able to deliver nurse led services in A&E and therefore greatly improve the experience of patients.
"Whether it's minor injuries, whether it's chronic respiratory problems or chest pains, many of these services can be delivered by nurse-led clinical teams and in particular by the appointment of more advanced nurse practitioners and I hope to see that model rolled out around the country," she said.
She hopes to announce measures shortly to alleviate A&E overcrowding. "Out-of-hours services for GPs, step-down facilities for those that are late discharge cases, alternative assessment units. . . they are among the initiatives that we will be coming forward with," she said.
Furthermore she acknowledged the problem of retaining Irish-trained nurses in the health service had to be addressed, as were nursing shortages. INO general secretary Mr Liam Doran told her 3,000 Irish trained nurses left to work abroad in 2003, up from 800 in 1998. This had to be stopped, he said.
Ms Harney said: "We have got to ensure we have clinical career paths for those that work as nurses in our healthcare system." It was not acceptable, she added, that the State was relying "to such a large extent on importing nurses from other countries when so many people here are qualifying and opting out of nursing".
Ms Harney also said there would be "a substantial increase" in funding for healthcare in the Estimates. Close to €600 million extra alone would be required to pay salaries of those working in health, she said.
This morning she meets the lobby group Patients Together.