Alan Kelly
Question:1037. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Health the percentage of overall health spending being devoted to the provision of primary care services under the current departmental spending Estimates. [14868/20]
View answerTuesday, 14 July 2020
Questions (1037)
Written answers
Primary care incorporates a range of multi-disciplinary services delivered by GP's, community nursing and health and social care professionals. The services provided include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, paediatric homecare and community intervention teams.
The HSE’s Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) supports the delivery of a wide range of these primary care services to the general public through over 7,000 primary care contractors across a range of community health schemes. These schemes form the infrastructure through which the Irish Health System delivers a significant proportion of Primary Care to the public. It is through PCRS that GPs receive a range of fees and allowances under the GMS scheme, although it should be noted that the total PCRS budget includes a range of other payments, the largest proportion of which is accounted for by drugs and medicines for both GMS and non-GMS payments.
The figures below exclude expenditure on social care services and local demand led services.
|
2020 |
|
|
€M |
|
|
Primary Care |
927 |
|
*PCRS |
2,951 |
|
3,878 |
|
|
Overall Total Budget |
17,106 |
|
Primary Care share |
22.7% |
Note: The figures are as per the National Service Plan 2020. There was an additional €3m allocated to primary care for winter planning following publication of the NSP.
These figures have yet to be adjusted to take account of the funding provided to the Health Vote in relation to Covid 19.
* The PCRS figure excludes expenditure on local demand led services."