David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1149. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost of providing an additional 1,000 posts under the enhanced community care fund including therapists, nurses, other professionals and dementia advisers in the community; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21463/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Budget 2020 included an additional provision of €10 million in 2020 and €60 million in a full year for the enhancement of community and primary care. The advance commitment to €60 million in 2021 will enable the recruitment of up to 1,000 therapists, nurses and other professionals in the community on a phased basis during the course of 2020, and will allow for these posts to be fully funded throughout 2021 in order to address the needs identified in the Health Service Capacity Review recommendations. This funding will also facilitate the recruitment of dementia advisers.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1150. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost of recruiting an additional 40 dementia advisers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21465/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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A key commitment in the Programme for Government is the implementation of the National Dementia Care Strategy, which aims to improve how we provide care for people living with dementia. In line with the Programme for Government, an additional 10 dementia advisors will be recruited this year through the Sláintecare Enhanced Community Fund. The advisors will be recruited through an agreement between the HSE and the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and will enable a level of service to be provided throughout the country.

The current full year cost of a dementia advisor post is €64,706, including pay and non-pay costs. The cost for 40 further posts would therefore be an additional €2,588,240 per annum. Additional equipment costs in the region of €1500 per advisor would also be required in year 1.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1151. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost of developing a community healthcare network; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21466/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Community Healthcare Networks (CHNs) are key to the expansion of services in the community. The networks represent the “unit of organisation” for the delivery of health services based on population need and size and as such, they should be considered as a framework for both future healthcare reform and expansion.

Full implementation of the CHN model together with integrated care programmes will support a reorientation of the health service toward general practice, primary care and community-based services. Such a transformation in service delivery will require significant and sustained investment.

Work is ongoing within the Department, in partnership with the HSE, to estimate the resource requirements for a comprehensive community-based service. This work will inform resource planning for the delivery of services in CHNs in the context of Winter and Service Resumption planning as well as the Estimates 2021 process.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1152. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost of increasing out of hours and rural general practitioner services by 10%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21467/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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It is not possible to estimate the cost of increasing out of hours services or rural GP services by 10%, as to estimate the cost of increasing the level of service provided would require an increase in the number of GPs providing out of hours services and an increase in the number of rural GPs. GPs are independent private contractors who receive payments directly from private patients, most GPs also hold (GMS) contracts and receive a range of payments from the HSE in relation to the services they provide to medical card and GP visit card holders. In addition to fact that as private contractors GPs choose the location where they wish to establish themselves, it is not possible to calculate costs on a per GP basis due to the large number of known and unknown variables involved.