Vol. 561 No. 1
112 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Health and Children his plans to fund the establishment of 24 hour general practitioner co-operatives which could provide emergency primary care services to free up hospital accident and emergency departments for more serious cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3464/03]
The GP co-operative schemes now running in every health board area represent a quality based approach, founded on co-operation and partnership between the stakeholders, to the enhanced availability of general practitioner out of hours services. Since the beginning of the out of hours co-operative initiatives in the year 2000, my Department has invested almost €50 million in their development. This includes funding of €7.5 million which is being provided in the current year to cover the full year costs of co-operatives that started in 2002, and also to allow for the expansion of others in 2003. The allocation of this development funding will be determined shortly, following a series of meetings being convened by my Department with each of the health boards wishing to expand their out of hours co-operatives in the current year.
