Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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397. To ask the Minister for Health the full-year cost of providing a fully operational primary care team for every 1,500 children and if he supports this recommendation of the Barnardos Rise Up for Children Report [43888/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Primary Care Teams comprise a range of healthcare professionals and may include general practitioners, nursing staff, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers, health care assistants, home helps, managers and administrative staff, according to the needs of the population served and the available resources. Primary Care Networks provide additional specialist resources to a larger population and may include speech and language therapists, dieticians and psychologists amongst other professional resources.

The HSE is at present working to implement the reform of non-acute services set out in the Community Healthcare Organisation (CHO) Report, which was published in October 2014.  Nine CHOs have been established to replace the previous 17 Integrated Service Areas. A central element of the implementation plan is the reorganisation of community services into 90 Primary Care Networks, each serving about 50,000 people.  The new structures will have a strong focus on building good linkages with the acute hospital system so that people’s care pathways are appropriately planned and their needs met in the right setting.

Currently, approximately 484 Primary Care Teams are in operation and vary as to their composition in terms of professional disciplines, staff numbers and associated costs.  It is not possible, without undertaking a detailed exercise, including a comprehensive assessment of the resources already available in each relevant location and a clear understanding of the working assumptions to be used, to provide an estimate of the net cost of establishing 1,500 Primary Care Teams, as requested by the Deputy.