Seán Ryan
Question:73 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Health and Children the progress made to date in implementing the report of the primary care task force; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6653/03]
Written Answers - Health Services.
The aims of the primary care strategy, Primary Care: A New Direction, are to provide a strengthened primary care system which will play a more central role as the first and ongoing point of contact for people with the healthcare system; an integrated, inter-disciplinary, high quality, team-based and user-friendly set of services for the public, and enhanced capacity for primary care in the areas of disease prevention, rehabilitation and personal social services to complement the existing diagnosis and treatment focus.
This strategy sets out an implementation plan with an incremental approach which recognises the breadth of the change that will be required in order to support the roll-out of the new primary care model over the next decade. Since the launch of this strategy in November 2001, a number of essential implementation steps have been taken.