Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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772. To ask the Minister for Health if his Department is on target in delivering additional primary care centres for 2022; the number of additional primary care centres that will be fully operational by Q4 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5001/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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773. To ask the Minister for Health the funding allocation for 2022 for the expansion and development of primary care infrastructure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5002/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Health Service Executive is responsible for the delivery of public healthcare infrastructure projects, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly in relation to this matter.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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774. To ask the Minister for Health the additional funding that has been provided for the recruitment of primary care team staff in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5003/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In Budget 2022, the Minister secured annual investment of €195m to enable the continued delivery of the Enhanced Community Care Programme.   This investment is supporting a programmatic and integrated approach to the development of the primary and community care sector that, among other initiatives, includes the development of primary care teams within 96 new Community Healthcare Networks (CHNs).  These networks will be central to the development of improved primary care services, and each will consist of between 4-6 primary care teams serving a local population of around 50,000. 

The expansion of primary care capacity is key to delivering the ECC programme, with approximately 3,500 additional staff to be recruited overall.  Of these, it is expected that around 1,900 will be recruited to Primary Care Teams within the CHNs while the remainder will be employed in new Community Specialist Teams, Community Intervention Teams or other initiatives being advanced under the ECC programme.  

There is flexibility within the overall ECC budget given the scale of the reform programme and associated recruitment, but it is estimated that €100-€110m of the ECC allocation in 2022 will support recruitment of  primary care team staff.