Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did not say that we are not counting the numbers. Rather, I said the figures are not compiled centrally. The Deputy wanted to know about each individual primary care centre. As she knows from her time as a Member and her previous life, the staff working in primary care centres are not employees of individual primary care centres.

Many of them work across areas. Many of them work in communities. Many of them are visiting people's houses in the Deputy's constituency and in mine. However, the number of people working in primary care is increasing year on year.

In April 2017, we had 954 medical-dental staff working in primary care; that is 981. In nursing, we had 2,857 in 2017 and that is 2,940 this year. In health and social care professionals we had 2,504 in April 2017 and this had risen to 2,598 by April 2018. There has also been an increase in patient and client care. I will provide the Deputy with this information. The number of staff working in primary care is increasing each year and we will continue to roll out a network of top-class primary care facilities throughout the country because our staff deserve them and it also changes the way they can care for patients in the community, working on a multidisciplinary basis.

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