Health Protection Nursing
Protecting individuals, groups and populations from infectious diseases and health threats
National Health Protection Office
Nursing
Who We Are
Health Protection is one of the Domains or Pillars of Public Health. Health Protection focuses on safeguarding individuals, groups, and populations from infectious diseases, environmental hazards, and other health threats - All Health Hazards health protection.
The health protection nurse works with a wide range of organisations, disciplines and agencies to undertake infectious disease surveillance, support in the management of incidents and outbreaks, as well as leading or supporting the implementation of guidance and policy to protect the public's health.
The HSE Public Health: Health Protection function is led by Director National Health Protection, supported by Clinical Leads: National Health Protection Senior Management Team.
Our Vision, Mission and Values
A healthy Ireland through excellence in health protection.
Our mission is to protect health of the people fostering multi-disciplinary Slaintecare "Community led model of care".
Health Protection Nursing is guided by the core values of Care, Compassion and Commitment. Our aim is to deliver professional nursing care that is person centred, compassionate and committed to the service users receiving care.
Governance
The health protection nursing workforce comprises of staff grades; Registered General Nurses, Clinical Nurse Manager II, Assistant Director of Nursing, nationally led by Director of Nursing. The nursing teams in the national immunisation office, HPSC and each of the six Area Public Health Departments are led by a senior nurse manager. The Nursing Governance structure is displayed in the here.
What We Do
Our key focus is to protect and prevent: protect our population against all health hazards and to prevent harm caused by such health threats. Implementing the HSE Health Protection Strategy 2022-2027, we aim to protect and prevent our population from all health hazards and health threats.
Professional Development
We focus on developing capacity and capability of the health protection nursing workforce to meet the evolving service needs. Our actions align with the HP Strategic Objective 9: to "expand and enhance the capabilities, education, and training of the multidisciplinary health protection workforce" HSE Health Protection Strategy 2022-2027.
Click here to view CPD 2025Tuberculosis (TB) Nurse Competency Framework
The TB Nurse competency framework was developed through an iterative process to facilitate workforce development in the Irish context.
The four themes:
Lists the descriptors and indicators to each theme. The dynamic framework will be revised as the service and knowledge base evolves.