Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 27: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her views on the construction of health centres with general practitioners and pharmacies on site but financed by private developers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4270/05]

Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 41: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her plans for private investment in the primary health sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4219/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to answer Questions Nos. 27 and 41 together.

The strategy "Primary Care: A New Direction" recognises that the provision of modern, well equipped, accessible premises will be central to the effective functioning of primary care teams and networks. Therefore, one of the key objectives is to facilitate and encourage the development, where appropriate, of modern, well equipped, user friendly buildings in which the broad range of primary care services, including general practice, can be delivered.

The concept of delivering all services from a single location is considered appropriate for many settings, especially in urban areas. It is also recognised that, where populations are widely dispersed, it may be preferable to have the team deliver services from more than one location, so that primary care services are easily accessible to those who use them.

It is clear that the existing network of community health centres and general practice premises is not adequate to meet the needs of primary care teams. To ensure that appropriate facilities are developed on the required scale, resources other than those of the Exchequer will be required and, indeed, this is line with the historic practice whereby there has been a mix of public and private facilities provision, with, for example, general practitioners in many cases funding their own practice premises.

In this regard, the strategy emphasises the need to gain full benefit from existing buildings and to fully explore opportunities for private investment and public private partnerships in implementing the development programme. The Government is committed to developing policy in such a way as to encourage innovative approaches to the provision of facilities and services to support the development and operation of primary care teams and networks in accordance with the objectives of the primary care strategy.

With regard to the development of health facilities which include a pharmacy, it is important to note that the primary care strategy places the community pharmacist in the primary care network, on the basis that the pharmacist will serve the needs of clients of more than one primary care team. The strategy does not specify where any of the primary care network members should be located relative to the members of the primary care team.

The report of the pharmacy review group includes a number of recommendations aimed at ensuring a separation between prescribing and dispensing and this includes recommending that there be a requirement for discrete premises, with separate entrances, for general practitioners and pharmacists. The Government has yet to consider this report and it would not be appropriate for me to pre-empt any decisions on its recommendations at this stage.