The primary care strategy, Primary Care: A New Direction, aims to shift the emphasis from the current over-reliance on acute hospital services to one where patients will be able to access an integrated multidisciplinary team of general practitioners, nurses, health care assistants, home helps, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and social workers in their local community. Appropriately structured, primary care can meet 90%-95% of all health and personal social service needs.
The strategy also envisages the development of extended-hours and out-of-hours cover for defined primary care services. The management of this wide range of care within the primary care setting represents the most appropriate, effective and user-friendly approach to the organisation of service delivery.
Primary care, planned and organised on this basis, can lessen the current reliance on specialist services and the hospital system, particularly accident and emergency and out-patient services. Based on available evidence, it has the potential to reduce the requirement for specialist services, reduce hospitalisation rates, reduce lengths of stay for those who are hospitalised, promote more rational prescribing and improve efficiency.
The primary care strategy also recognises that the provision of modern, well-equipped, accessible premises will be central to the effective functioning of the primary care team. One of the Government's key objectives is to facilitate and encourage the development, where appropriate, of modern, well-equipped, user-friendly buildings in which the broad range of primary care services, including general practice, can be delivered. The strategy also emphasises the need to gain full benefit from existing buildings and to fully exploit any opportunities for public private partnerships in implementing the development programme. I am committed to developing policy in such a way as to maximise the opportunities to attract private sector interests into the provision of facilities to support delivery of primary care service in accordance with the new interdisciplinary model.
The identification, prioritisation and provision of health centres, including the upgrading of such facilities, to meet the health and personal social service needs of local communities are matters for the health boards or the Eastern Regional Health Authority in the first instance.