In-Person Healthcare Training in Dublin: A Guide for Employers and Staff

In-person healthcare training in Dublin is usually a question of fit: which topics really need a trainer and equipment in the room, which can sit on an online platform, and how to get a rostered team there without leaving a ward or house short. This pillar guide is for employers, managers and staff in hospitals, nursing homes, disability services, home support and primary care. It does not add new rules. It routes you to three of our detailed posts and describes only what they say, with our own selection tips clearly labelled. Start with our complete guide to mandatory training for healthcare staff in Ireland if you are not sure what your team needs.

How to use this guide

• If you are working out what your staff must complete, start with the mandatory training section.
• If you already know what is needed and are planning the logistics of getting people into a room, go to the planning section.
• If your question is about professional registration and CPD, go to the CPD section.
• Check dates. The underlying posts carry their own update dates, and requirements, regulator schemes and employer policies change. Confirm the current position with your employer or regulator.

Mandatory training: what needs doing

Our mandatory training guide is a starting point for managers, HR teams, staff and students in Irish healthcare and social care settings. It brings together the main ideas from three of our detailed posts: an explainer on HSeLanD, a guide to basic life support (BLS) training, and a guide to infection prevention and control training.

As that guide describes, HSeLanD is the HSE's national online learning portal, relevant to HSE staff, staff of Section 38 and Section 39 organisations and students on health placements. Our separate HSeLanD explainer says the platform is run solely by the HSE, that the core modules it identifies include Children First, Dignity at Work, open disclosure, cyber security awareness and hand hygiene, and that agency and voluntary-sector staff often need certificates for onboarding. The guide also draws a distinction between training required by law and training required by HSE policy, and notes that line managers are primarily responsible for identifying which modules apply to their staff and following up gaps.

Our separate BLS post covers resuscitation training in more detail. The infection prevention and control post is described as showing that hand hygiene is one pillar of a wider system, with requirements varying by employer and role. The guide suggests building a matrix of roles against training types and recording the renewal rule you have confirmed for each item. This is the best first stop for anyone deciding what to deliver in a classroom and what to leave to online modules.

Planning in-person sessions around rosters and cover

Our guide to organising in-person training for healthcare teams is for managers who have to turn a training need into a rota. It begins from the point that getting a team into a training room is rarely a legal problem and almost always a rostering one. It sets out the legal points that affect training days, drawn from Citizens Information pages and HIQA, and then offers practical suggestions that are labelled as ours.

The legal points it covers include breaks, daily and weekly rest, the weekly hours limit, night work, paid time for health and safety training, and working time records. It notes that employment law is national and that nothing in it is specific to Dublin. It also summarises what HIQA says about staffing and rosters, and why a gap between planned and actual rotas matters in inspections. It states plainly that it did not find a Citizens Information page saying whether a given course counts as working time, so employers should decide in advance and tell staff.

The guide's suggestions include planning backwards from expiry dates using a records matrix, running several smaller sessions, putting the training day on the roster as a shift with named cover, checking rest periods before confirming a date after a night shift, and recording attendance and rebooking absentees. It also touches on venue: a central Dublin location can reduce travel between sites, and practical skills such as manual handling suit an in-person session where staff can use equipment with a trainer present. Read this post if you manage rosters, run a nursing home or disability house, or coordinate training for a mixed team.

Professional CPD: which rules apply to whom

Our complete guide to CPD for healthcare professionals in Ireland is written for employers, managers and individual professionals who want a clear picture before reading the detail. Its central point is that there is no single national CPD scheme: doctors, nurses and midwives, and CORU registrants each answer to a different regulator with its own model.

The guide draws together our posts on the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, the Medical Council and CORU. It describes the Medical Council approach as built on defined categories, CORU as a common credit target with self-directed learning, and the NMBI as moving from a general duty in its code towards a structured scheme, as at the post's update date. It includes a comparison table, a section on record keeping and suggestions for employers. For a mixed Dublin team, its practical message is that one internal CPD policy assuming a single model will not fit everyone. It also notes that other regulators, such as the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, have separate schemes.

Use this guide to work out who regulates each role on your team, then follow it to the regulator-specific post and the regulator's own website, which remains the authority.

Choosing between in-person and online: our suggestions

The following points are our suggestions, built on the descriptions above, and are not legal requirements.

• Start from the requirement. Confirm with your employer policy, the HSE or the relevant regulator what each role needs and how often, before choosing a format.
• Match format to the skill. Where a topic is practical, such as manual handling, a session with a trainer and equipment is the natural fit. Where the content is an assigned module on a platform such as HSeLanD, online delivery can reduce the number of days spent in a room.
• Plan the release, not just the booking. Put the training day on the roster with named cover, and check rest periods first.
• Keep one record. Update your training matrix, roster and working time records together, and store certificates where you can find them for an inspection.

Learnsignal's offices are off Baggot Street in Dublin, and we offer in-person training from there. For current details, see our CPD pages.

Frequently asked questions

Where should I start if I manage a mixed team?

Start with the mandatory training guide to see how assigned modules, practical skills and role-specific topics fit together, then use the planning guide to turn needs into dates.

Can all mandatory training be done online?

Our posts say it depends on the topic; HSeLanD modules are delivered on the platform, while practical skills often need a trainer in the room. Confirm with your employer.

Does the law say training must happen in working hours?

The planning guide reports that the Citizens Information pages it read say employers must allow paid time off for safety awareness training, but do not say whether training must take place during working hours. See that guide for the detail.

Is CPD the same for doctors, nurses and CORU registrants?

No. Each regulator runs its own model, which is why the CPD guide compares them and points to the regulator-specific posts.

How current is this information?

This guide summarises posts as they stood when we wrote it. Check your regulator, the HSE and your employer for the current position.

In short, decide what each role needs, choose the format that suits the skill, and plan the logistics so training is recorded and does not leave a service short.