Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 4: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if she will list the 75 to 100 existing primary care teams to which she referred in her Estimates announcement in November 2005; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8736/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Government is fully committed to the implementation of the principles contained in the primary care strategy, which provides a template for the reform and development of primary care services. The chief executive officer of the HSE has also emphasised the importance of developing primary care services, both as the appropriate service for the delivery of the majority of people's health and social care needs and to complement the services provided by acute hospitals. This is an important priority of the executive and has my full endorsement.

In order to support further implementation of the strategy in 2006, additional revenue funding of €16 million has been provided. Of this funding €10 million is to support the establishment of 75 to 100 primary care teams nationally. This will enable the provision of 300 additional front-line personnel to work alongside GPs to provide integrated and accessible services in the community. Work by the HSE to establish these primary care teams is under way. The executive will be targeting the funding so as to provide each local health office of the HSE with the potential to develop up to three primary care teams. The executive hopes to focus where possible on areas of disadvantage and with health inequalities in planning for the establishment of these teams.

A sum of €4 million has been provided for the establishment of additional general practitioner training places and €2 million to enhance general practitioner out-of-hours co-operatives. This means that, taking into account development funding provided since 2002, €28 million will be available in 2006 specifically to support the implementation of the primary care strategy.

Wider implementation of the primary care strategy will focus on developing new ways of working and of reorganising the resources already available to the health service in line with the service model described in the strategy. This whole-system approach to implementation means change will be required in many sectors in the health service and not solely within the primary care system.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Tánaiste announced that 75 to 100 existing care teams nationally would receive funding. If they existed I would expect two or three of them to exist in County Wexford and like the Taoiseach, having gone up every tree in County Wexford, I still do not know where the primary care teams are for County Wexford. Nobody knows what she is talking about. These are phantom primary care teams. This deserves some scrutiny. Many of the Tánaiste's recent announcements come to nothing. Only 7,000 doctor-only medical cards and just over 1,000 of the full medical cards announced have been issued. Rather than making a statement about the €10 million and 300 personnel, I would like to know where they will be and with whom the HSE has consulted. In County Wexford, where I feel I know most of the people, and across the country I have met nobody who has been in discussion with the HSE regarding the existing primary care teams, to which the Tánaiste refers. I would like to see the breakdown of where the 300 personnel are located. They have been announced, but we do not know where they are.

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Obviously the Deputy is ill informed, as there are three in each local health office. In Dublin we have nine local health offices, which would mean 27 in Dublin. I recently discussed the matter with Dr. Seán Maguire who is spearheading the project for the HSE. I believe he is familiar to the Deputy. Perhaps I can ask him to communicate to the Deputy the precise location of the discussions taking place in the Wexford area. The idea is to develop primary care services, which are not just about general practices, but also about supporting general practitioners with other therapists such as physiotherapists, chiropodists and occupational therapists in the community so people can have the range of services at that level to allow a primary care strategy to be rolled out across the country.

I do not have the details of the location of the 75 to 100 people. However, I am sure if the Deputy speaks with the representative of the HSE he can discover where and who they are. There are three in each local health office. I am not sure how many local health offices Wexford has and whether it is more than one. Dublin has nine.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Tánaiste should ask the HSE to publish this information on our behalf. We should not need to look around to find where this is happening. It is not a new way: the Tánaiste is losing her way regarding the primary care strategy.