James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will be aware from earlier responses to questions that the model of care needs to change in both hospitals and in general practice. We need to move away from this episodic illness approach to a system of prevention and chronic illness management in primary care. The Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, is dealing with this aspect and he is in consultation with the GP organisations, for which I thank him. It is the case that NCHDs are doing work that could just as well be done by other health care professionals. I alluded to the skill mix where nurses are performing duties which health care assistants could undertake, doctors are doing work that advanced nurse practitioners could undertake, and both professions are doing work that would be better done by physiotherapists or speech and language therapists or other allied health care professionals. We must address this by innovative ways of using the resources available to us, which in my view will be more cost-effective and result in better outcomes for patients and would also be more rewarding for the professionals involved.

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