Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)

I welcome the Bill, which provides that suitably qualified general practitioners setting up practice will not only treat private patients but will also treat patients holding both GP visit cards and full medical cards. There will be no limit on the number of contractors. The legislation is being introduced as a result of the commitment in the EU-IMF programme which required the introduction of legislative changes to remove restrictions to trade and competition in sheltered sectors, including eliminating restrictions on GPs wishing to treat public patients. These restrictions have had a detrimental effect on younger, properly qualified GPs setting up in practice and delivering care and service to the community.

I would like to raise the matter of the provision of a GP service in the north city fringe part of my constituency in Dublin North-East through a proposal to provide a primary care centre in the Clongriffin-Coast area. Following the proposal to develop the Dublin north city fringe and the Fingal-Baldoyle-Coast area for residential and commercial development with the granting of planning permission in 2002 and subsequent appeals to An Bord Pleanála, the then Eastern Regional Health Authority first proposed in 2004 at a meeting with local public representatives that a state-of-the-art primary care centre would be required for the north fringe area to cater for the future needs of the new community. It was planned that a 19,500 sq. ft. primary care centre would incorporate GPs, public health nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, social work and other services.

By 2007 a considerable number of new residents had moved into the area and they began to demand answers as to when the primary care centre would be in place. A pharmacy had opened in a unit at Clongriffin Town Centre with the expectation that the business would be viable once the primary care centre was opened. The tardiness in completing the Clongriffin DART station was a factor for some time but the rail station eventually opened in the early part of last year. The plan up to that point was that the primary care infrastructure initiative scheme would allow GPs to provide to the HSE accommodation suitable for the provision of primary care team services. In return the HSE would enter into a 25-year lease with the providers for accommodation occupied by the HSE. This agreement is subject to various conditions but the principal condition is that the preferred provider must secure a minimum number of GPs to service GMS patients in the locality who would operate out of the same building as the HSE under the banner of the primary care centre.

While serving as a local authority member, I was on the HSE Dublin north-east regional health forum and, in early 2010, it became apparent that there was a breakdown in discussions between the HSE and a group of GPs regarding the opening of the proposed Clongriffin primary care centre in a unit provided by Gannon Homes under the primary care infrastructure initiative scheme. Unfortunately, hopes that the promised primary care centre would be put in place were dashed when the GPs, who had previously declared their support for the centre, withdrew from the process. Following their withdrawal, the HSE was no longer in a position to proceed with a lease agreement for accommodation at this location. The HSE subsequently informed forum members that a potential new location for a primary care unit for the Baldoyle-Clongriffin area has been identified at Myrtle Court, a new estate off Grange Road, Baldoyle, and that advanced negotiations had been taking place between the executive and a major health care provider over the previous six months. It was stated that construction would commence in early 2011 subject to planning permission and site acquisition. This has not happened and I have not received an update from the HSE in this regard.

Because of this uncertainty, the pharmacist in Clongriffin was forced to close leaving the area without the services of a chemist. The economic downturn was also a factor in the slow uptake of the commercial units in Clongriffin town centre and the hope was that the opening of a primary care centre together with the new DART station would provide a much needed stimulus essential for the success and future viability of Clongriffin. Will the Minister intervene with the HSE to ensure the proposed primary care centre for the Clongriffin-Coast area of Dublin North-East is put back on the agenda and that a timetable for its implementation is provided as a matter of urgency?

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