Vol. 444 No. 7
136 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Health Research Board has declined to fund research projects by the ICGP in relation to the care of the elderly; his views on the need for funding in this area; the proposals, if any, he has to address the problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Health Research Board is the statutory agency which has responsibility for promoting, conducting or commissioning medical and epidemiological research. In making its decisions on whether or not to support a particular research proposal, the board uses an established system of evaluation involving peer review which assesses the merits of proposals submitted for funding. Decisions by the board to fund individual projects are made on a strictly impartial basis having regard to the relative merits of the proposals submitted and the outcome of a competitive interview process involving applicants. I have been given to understand by the board that the proposals by the Irish College of General Practitioners which concerned research on care of the elderly were assessed by the Epidemiology and General Practice Committee of the board and were not recommended for funding by the committee. It is open to the applicants to resubmit the projects for support out of the board's 1995 research grants.
As the Deputy is aware, the role of the general practitioner is particularly important in the development of services for the elderly. In that regard my Department has provided a grant out of the General Practice Development Fund to support an applied research project by the college in the care of the elderly. The project concerns the functional assessment of the elderly by general practitioners, especially the effectiveness of interventions by general practitioners involving elderly patients. In addition, the national health strategy, as part of the development of general practitioner services, provides a commitment to support the college in the development of quality assurance measures for general practice. My Department will be meeting the college shortly to progress the implementation of this commitment.
