Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 102: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the location and number of primary care teams that have been established; the location and number of community mental health teams that have been set up; if the current employment embargo is affecting the composition of those teams established; the way this compares with the commitments made in Towards 2016 and A Vision for Change; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23497/09]

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Government commitment under Towards 2016 was for the establishment of 300 Primary Care Teams by 2008; 400 by 2009; and 500 by 2011. The HSE has identified a requirement for 530 Primary Care Teams and 134 Health and Social Care Networks to be developed by 2011 as part of its four year Transformation Programme.

The roll out of Primary Care Teams and Networks will be achieved by assigning existing staff working in primary, continuing and community care services to Teams and Networks, and the employment of new staff through funding allocated for this purpose. Additional funding of €52m in total has been provided to the HSE since 2002 for team development.

In relation to the development of community mental health teams, Towards 2016 included a commitment to the development of high-quality community-based mental health services in accordance with the recommendations of the Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy, A Vision for Change. The Report estimates that 332 community mental health teams are required to deliver the proposed community-based mental health service. Each multidisciplinary team will include the core skills of psychiatry, nursing, social work, clinical psychology and occupational therapy. To implement this, substantial change is required in the organisation and delivery of mental health services and current resources need to be reallocated and remodelled to fund the new structure.

The moratorium on recruitment and promotion does not apply to allied health professionals such as speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers or to medical consultants, clinical radiologists, behavioural therapists or counsellors. In fact, these will be increased in order to support the delivery of integrated services to groups like the elderly, children at risk and people with a disability. The HSE also intends, as part of its overall Transformation Programme, to redeploy into community services a significant number of staff from acute hospitals and corporate functions. The steps necessary to give effect to this are currently being finalised.

Details relating to the location and number of Primary Care Teams and Community Mental Health Teams, is a service matter and has been referred to the HSE for direct reply.