Vol. 525 No. 1
132 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Health and Children if his Department has carried out an evaluation of the CAREDOC projects for the delivery of general practitioner services in Carlow; if so the conclusions reached regarding its suitability from the patients' perspective and in particular its applicability to a large and remote rural area; and the plans his Department has to facilitate financially other such co-operative general practitioner initiatives. [23715/00]
I have been in contact with the South Eastern Health Board and am informed that an in-depth and extensive evaluation of the CAREDOC scheme has been undertaken from a patient, health board and general practitioner perspec tive. There was an overall satisfaction rating of 96/% with the service. There was no significant difference in satisfaction levels between the various locations, other than it appeared that in general there were higher satisfaction ratings in rural locations as opposed to the urban base location. There are other such general practitioner projects in operation in the North Eastern Health Board area, North East DOC and in the Eastern Regional Health Authority's area, DUBDOC, operating from St. James's Hospital. My Department will continue to support these general practitioner led co-operatives and their efficacy and operation will be considered in the review of general practice being undertaken by the chief executive officers of the health boards which I expect will be completed shortly.
