In 1998, the transition from the traditional apprenticeship model of nursing training to the revised diploma model was completed in all three pre-registration nursing disciplines, general, mental handicap and psychiatric nursing. The current training programme is operated by schools of nursing in association with third level institutions. Successful completion of the three year nursing registration/diploma programme leads to registration as a nurse with An Bord Altranais and the award of a Diploma in Nursing Studies from the linked third level institution.
It should be noted that the change from the traditional apprenticeship model of nurse training to the nursing diploma programme means that nursing students are supernumerary to the workforce and no longer receive a salary, except for a fourteen-week period during the third year of training when they are rostered for work. However, nursing students on the diploma programmes receive a substantial financial support package, including an annual non-means tested maintenance grant of £3,570, 4,532.96. The value of this grant is almost double the rate of the maximum means-tested higher education grant payable to other third level students. This is in recognition of the 48 week commitment that nursing students are required to give to theoretical instruction and clinical instruction during each of the three years of the programme. Nursing students commencing the diploma programme also benefit from a book allowance of £270, 342.83, along with a uniform allowance of £170, 215.85. Nursing students are also entitled to receive free meals on a seven-day per week basis in designated health institutions. Students undertaking external clinical placements receive an allowance of £40 or 50.79 per week in cases where it is necessary for the students to find alternative accommodation away from their normal place of residence for the duration of the placement. Students undertaking external clinical placements also receive a weekly travel pass. Since the abolition of third level fees does not extend to the nursing diploma programmes, the student nurses' fees continue to be paid by the relevant health agency on their behalf. The average annual fee is about £1,700, 2,158.55. The average annual total value of these supports is some £7,000 or 8,888.17 per nursing student, which compares most favourably with the level of funding available to other third level students.