FEWER THAN half the primary care teams promised in a Government strategy in 2001 have been provided, according to a report published yesterday.
The Oireachtas Health Committee’s report, which reviewed progress in implementing the strategy, found 222 primary care teams had been established at the end of 2009.
The national primary care strategy published in 2001 promised 600 would be established by 2011. The Health Service Executive (HSE) now believes 542 will be sufficient.
The committee’s report makes 40 recommendations aimed at speeding up the implementation of the primary care strategy.
It says a system of special incentives will have to be introduced to speed up the provision of primary care centres to house primary care teams across the State.
The report says primary care centres – which are one-stop-shops in the community where patients can access GPs and a whole range of other health professionals under one roof – are essential if primary care teams now being put in place are to operate at an optimal level.
The committee's Report on Primary Medical Care in the Communitylists a range of possible incentives such as tax reliefs, stamp duty reliefs, and rates reliefs which might be considered to expedite the provision of primary care centres, but says these should be targeted at professionals in primary care teams rather than developers.
It wants to avoid “the corporatisation” of the development of new primary care infrastructure.
It also reiterates the belief expressed in many previous reports that the number of GP training places must be increased to ensure there will be sufficient doctors to work in primary care teams in the future. These will be expected to take pressure off hospitals by carrying out more diagnostic tests in the community.
It recommends the number of GP training places be expanded immediately to at least 150 a year. It currently stands at 121.
It also recommends that the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) be encouraged and resourced to introduce accelerated training programmes.
The report recommends that community mental health services be provided through primary care centres to reduce the stigma for those attending, and that the centres act as a base for consultant outreach clinics and increased diagnostic services.
It says the HSE should also ensure it retains the skills of qualified therapists required to work in primary care teams.
New primary care centres should also be subject to independent inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority.
Seán Ó Fearghaíl, the Fianna Fáil chairman of the committee, said he hoped the report would add “impetus and drive” to the effective roll-out of primary care services throughout the country. While some progress had been made with the creation of 222 primary care teams, “most of these lack a base and diagnostic services”.
He said primary care teams needed to be in one single location to be most effective. The pace of the development of these centres has been “considerably slower than we would wish it to be”.
Fine Gael’s health spokesman Dr James Reilly said if primary care services were properly developed they would go two-thirds of the way in solving the crisis in the health service.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said she looked forward to working with the committee on implementing many of its recommendations. She was already planning discussions with the ICGP on increasing the supply of GPs.