asked the Minister for Health the plans he has for bringing as many health services as possible into the local community.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Community Health Services.
29.
The further development of health services in local communities will be based upon the existence of Community Care teams. The State has been divided into 32 Community Care Areas with a more or less comparable population in each area. The Community Care team in each area will be headed by a Director of Community Care and he will be assisted by a number of medical officers and public health nurses as well as health inspectors, social workers and other qualified people.
I have approved in recent months of the strengthening of the staffs of these teams particularly in the public health nursing and social work areas. The number of public health nursing posts has been increased by 113 and the number of social work posts has been increased by 80.
The number of centres for the annual training courses for public health nurses has been increased from one to three for the current year and it is expected that when these training courses are completed in June of next year there will be an additional 100 qualified public health nurses available for employment by the health boards. This is a considerable increase over the numbers who were trained over recent years.
Work has commenced or will commence during the present year in the provision of four health centres and four welfare homes. Health boards have been asked to consider the extent to which further development of these facilities is required in their areas. The provision of such accommodation is of course essential in providing appropriate services in local areas and the need for such accommodation will be kept under constant review. I shall also be encouraging health boards to continue their support of voluntary organisations which are and will remain an essential part of the community-based services.