Vol. 538 No. 1
155 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason for the shortfall in funding to the Mid-Western Health Board for the establishment of a general practitioner co-operative for County Clare; if he will provide additional funding to enable the project to commence on 1 September 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17342/01]
I am committed to the development of a structured and quality based general practice out of hours service. Consistent with this approach, my Department is funding two major pilot out of hours projects in the NEHB and SEHB. It was always the clear and stated intention that no further projects would be commenced before those projects were fully and independently evaluated. The first phase of the evaluation process will be completed in late June and will facilitate a full consideration of how further progress can be made in this area. It will also allow a decision to be made on whether the co-op model is the best model for out of hours service delivery.
It was for these reasons that no commitment was made to the Mid-Western Health Board for the introduction or funding of an out of hours project in that region this year. However, the board received £140,000 to facilitate work on progressing the infrastructural issues surrounding the development of a structured out of hours general practitioner model in their area. It has used some of that money to employ a full-time project manager. He is currently working with a geographically representative steering group of ten GPs in the region to ensure the fullest involvement of local GPs in this important area.
Given a positive outcome to the evaluation process I hope to be in a position, in association with the Mid-Western Health Board, to fund this project.
