Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 6 Nov 2001

Vol. 543 No. 2

Written Answers. - General Practitioner Services.

David Stanton

Question:

440 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Health and Children the amount of money allocated to the respective health boards in 2001 for the establishment of a general practitioner co-operative; the health boards which have recruited project managers to progress the concept within their areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26684/01]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin):

I am committed to addressing the need for an appropriate GP out-of-hours service. In that regard, I have already funded two major pilot GP out-of-hours co-operative projects in the SEHB and NEHB areas. Both those projects are well resourced ventures offering participating GPs strong back-up in terms of personnel support and facilities. The objective is to ensure proper patient care combined with offering participating GPs a structured means of organising their out of hours commitments so as to significantly reduce their actual on-call workload.

In both cases, general practitioners have been involved from the outset in promoting and establishing the co-ops. This is consistent with my overall approach to this area, that is, that all out of hours initiatives must fully involve health boards and general practitioners working together in their introduction and development. In my press release dated 24 September 2001, welcoming the evaluation report on the two pilot projects, I mentioned that I saw the development of general practice out of hours co-operatives as one way of meeting the need for appropriate care for patients at night, weekends and on public holidays. I highlighted this as an excellent example of what can be achieved through a partnership approach between my Department, the health boards and GPs. I also drew attention to the fact that issues had been raised in the evaluation report which need to be resolved before the co-op model can be rolled out nationally. The individual 2001 allocations to each health board for out of hours development were as follows:

Health Board	Funds Allocated
Eastern Regional HealthAuthority	£260,000330,131.90
Midland Health Board	£160,000203,158.09
Mid-Western Health Board	£140,000177,763.33
North-Eastern Health Board	£1,300,0001,650,659.50
North-Western Health Board	£100,000126,973.80
South-Eastern Health Board	£850,0001,079,277.30
Southern Heath Board	£630,000799,934.98
Western Health Board	£125,000158,717.25
Total	£3,565,0004,526,616.2

The funding allocated fully reflects the incremental approach being pursued which was agreed with the boards in November 2000.

Funding for the NEHB and SEHB relates to the current operation of their pilot projects. The funding allocated to the SHB was to enable it to be the next board to undertake a major out of hours project in 2001: this project is now under way. Funding allocated to the other boards is primarily to allow them to undertake the infrastructural work necessary prior to the introduction of a major out of hours project in their areas. In fact, the North-Western Health Board has also been able to launch an out of hours project in 2001. Significant additional funding is being sought for 2002 to further advance the roll out of out of hours co-operative projects nation-wide. My Department has left it to each individual health board to manage the out of hours concept in the way that best suits their requirements and with due regard to the stage of development the project has reached. In some cases a specific person has been recruited to manage the project while in others a person already within the board has been tasked with progressing the project.

I am satisfied that the approach outlined above is the best way to proceed if we are to introduce a proper value for money out of hours GP service that benefits both patients and doctors in a meaningful way.