The document, Primary Care, A New Direction, published as part of the health strategy, Quality and Fairness – A Health System for You, indicates that a needs assessment of the composition and number of primary care teams in each health board area will be carried out within guidelines and frameworks developed by the forthcoming national primary care task force. Following the needs assessment, the task force will produce, in conjunction with the health boards, a primary care human resources plan to develop the capacity of primary care. I have not asked the national task force on medical staffing to deal directly with workforce planning for general practitioners. Its work will, however, have implications for the number of general practitioners required in the coming years. In this context, I understand that it will liaise closely with the national primary care task force. The task force on medical staffing includes a representative of the Irish College of General Practitioners.