Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a great question. There is no doubt there is more opportunity to improve the services in the community and in primary care. One of the things I have recently funded is a women's health lead with the Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP. That is the first time we will have a lead person whose job it will be do exactly that, with regard to figuring out whether more communication is needed with GPs, what other work, services and healthcare provision GPs can lead in the community and whether more training is needed in terms of core training for GPs, continuous professional development and so forth. Part of the answer is that and part of the answer is ongoing engagement with the GP community and its representative group to prioritise these. The Deputy will have seen there are some things we are doing which are acute-based but which will help. We have funded an endometriosis service specialising in advanced cases in Tallaght which will give more referral pathways to GPs as well.

See this speech in context