Claire Kerrane
Question:351. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Health to provide a list of additional health resources provided to communities for a specific reason (details supplied). [7257/24]
View answerThursday, 15 February 2024
Questions (351)
Written answers
The Department of Health, in line with other government departments, has put in place additional resources of €50m to provide healthcare services for Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection. These resources are targeted at areas where Ukrainian refugees are concentrated.
The Health Service Executive has developed a Refugee Health Model to provide a flexible local healthcare response to address the unmet health needs of refugees from Ukraine and other countries. The Refugee Health Model addresses the needs of BOTPs and IPs across all counties and CHO areas.
Additional health resources provided include Primary Care Migrant Health Teams, GP sessional clinics which function, as much as possible, in a similar fashion to existing GP services, and the delivery of catch-up immunisations against vaccine preventable illness in line with the Irish Immunisation Schedule for Ukrainian populations. The health response also includes the provision of medical cards for all eligible arrivals.
In 2023, €1 million was allocated to 31 Local Authority Community Response Forums across the country under the Healthy Ireland Ukrainian Resilience Fund. This was part of the Sláintecare Healthy Communities Programme and the Healthy Cities and Counties initiative. The additional funding enabled Local Authorities to assist Ukrainian refugees to integrate into their communities and build healthy lives in Ireland. Suitable projects were chosen by Local Authorities and local partners based on local needs, and invested in local communities helping Ukrainian refugees by delivering a range of health and well-being initiatives.
The Department of Health continues to develop and expand public health and primary care services, including the delivery of new primary care centres and enhanced community care services, to enhance the provision of healthcare services for the existing population.
The Department and the HSE regularly review capacity issues and highlight these as appropriate at the cross-government Humanitarian Senior Officials Group, which assesses the impacts across all sectors.