Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 53: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the progress made to date on action 76 of Quality and Fairness — a Health System for You; the number of primary care teams and networks in place; the number expected to be in place by the end of 2006; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2718/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The primary care strategy aims to develop services in the community so that patients will have direct access to integrated multi-disciplinary teams of general practitioners, nurses, health care assistants, home helps, occupational therapists and others.

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 over a period of ten to 15 years. The chief executive officer of the Health Service Executive 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 which has my full endorsement. The implementation process at an operational level is a function of the Health Service Executive, HSE, which under the Health Act 2004 is responsible for the management and delivery of health and personal social services.

An initial ten primary care teams have been established nationally, with funding to enable existing staff resources within the public system to be augmented. These teams enable the primary care model to be demonstrated in action and have allowed practical experience to be gained of the process involved in developing a primary care team and providing expanded services in the community. The HSE will be building on the experience gained in these ten projects as it develops team-based primary care services on a wider scale.

In order to support further implementation of the strategy in 2006, additional revenue funding of €16 million has been provided which will enable: the appointment of some 300 additional front-line personnel to work alongside GPs in approximately 75 to 100 teams in the improved delivery of community primary care services; the establishment of an additional 22 GP training places; and the further development of general practitioner out-of-hours co-operatives to enable an estimated 350,000 additional persons to benefit from such services. This means that €28 million will be available in 2006 specifically to support the implementation of the primary care strategy. However, other development funding will also be used to support the development of services in line with the principles of the 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 primary care itself.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 54: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the progress made to date on action 77 of Quality and Fairness — a Health System for You; the number of general practitioner co-operatives in place compared to the number in January 2004; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2719/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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GMS GPs are contractually obliged to provide a service for medical card and GP visit card holders on a 24 hour basis. Funding was first provided for out of hours general practitioner co-operatives in 2000. The resources allocated to facilitate development of these services have been increased annually since then and in 2006 the sum available for GP co-ops amounts to €33.984 million, of which €2 million is additional funding. These figures do not include the fees of the participating doctors. The additional funding in 2006 will allow for an additional 350,000 persons to be covered by comprehensive out of hours general practitioner cover. The HSE estimates that 2.4 million people are presently covered by the existing out of hours co-operatives. Thus the 2006 estimate will bring total coverage to approximately 2.75 million people or 70% of the population of the country.

One new co-operative was started in the HSE's eastern region in 2004. All areas of the Health Service Executive have expanded their out of hours co-operatives and services since 2004. Co-operatives are now in place in part of all areas of the Health Service Executive, providing coverage in part of all counties. The executive is working to further extend the availability of co-op services in parts of the country where these are not yet in place. Expansion of out of hours co-operatives is also dependent on GPs in the areas agreeing to join as participation is voluntary.