Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 82: To ask the Minister for Health if the study currently being undertaken by him regarding the numbers of general practitioners required in the State will also cover the issue of location, recognising that GP and primary care services are unevenly spread; when this report will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33023/11]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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The purpose of the study referred to by the Deputy is to inform the Programme for the Implementation of Universal Primary Care, which will progressively extend access to general practitioner (GP) care without fees, in accordance with the Programme for Government 2011. The Programme for Government provides that under Universal Primary Care, GPs will work in primary care teams with other primary care professionals. The Implementation Programme requires the development of a model of demand for and supply of GP and practice nurse care to facilitate workforce planning so that the supply of care by GPs and practice nurses should meet patients' need for care.

The study will include a number of elements including:-

- an estimation of current utilisation rates of GP and practice nurse services, including a breakdown by geographical area to the degree that is supported by the available data;

- a projection of the effect on utilisation/demand for GP and practice nurse services of demographic change including population ageing and epidemiological trends;

- an assessment of any mismatch between demand and supply; and

- a sensitivity analysis assessing the effect on matching demand and supply of adopting alternative demographic and epidemiological assumptions.

The study commenced on 17 October 2011 and will be of two months' duration.