Dr. Tadhg Crowley:

It is very important not to confuse buildings with people. I got involved with primary care centres at the very start and there were many promises about them. We are working in a fabulous centre but it really is about people. We can misplace the idea of primary care centres as a panacea for the problem. The problem really goes back to people. As others have said, between 2010 and 2020 there was a 10% increase in the population and 44% of those were aged over 65. In the next ten years, there will be a 7.5% increase in population and 35% of those will be over 65. There is a health tsunami heading for the country with regard to chronic disease and this affects older people more than younger people. Coupled with this is a shortage of GPs coming to the area. Although the primary care centres are welcome, they are not a panacea in getting new GPs into the system.