Bernard Allen
Question:746 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has allocated funding to establish new general practitioner out of hours co-operatives; and the co-operatives which have received the funding. [2460/01]
Written Answers. - General Practitioner Co-operative Projects.
There are two major out of hours general practitioner co-operative projects currently under way in the SEHB and the NEHB. These are pilot projects which are set to be rigorously and independently evaluated in March. My Department has provided funding for both those projects and has also provided, in the current year, significant funding to the SHB to develop a major structured out of hours GP model covering west Cork and Kerry. Funds have also been provided to the other health boards and the ERHA to facilitate infrastructural analysis and consideration of appropriate out of hours GP structures in their regions.
The future development of the structured out of hours model, either in the form of a co-operative or other structured model, throughout the country, will be progressed on the basis of both the aforementioned evaluation exercise and a national conference on the subject being organised by my Department for late spring. Arrangements for the establishment of a working group to look specifically at the situation in the Dublin area are almost finalised. This group will examine factors affecting the recruitment and retention of nursing and midwifery staff in the Dublin area and recommend innovative ways in which the situation might be improved.
These initiatives represent a very significant effort to improve the situation. In the longer term, it is hoped that the substantial increase in the number of student places will provide enough registered nurses to fill all vacancies.