Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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630. To ask the Minister for Health the main initiatives that he has taken to develop and expand primary care services since 27 June 2020; the additional funding provided in successive budgets; his plans for 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62217/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Significant funding has been allocated to develop and expand primary care services in recent years, in order to provide greater and enhanced levels of care in the primary care setting, and to facilitate the reorientation of the health system from acute-focused service provision, enabling the shift to the left in line with Sláintecare reforms.

A key element of this is the implementation of the Enhanced Community Care Programme, a suite of reform initiatives, which includes significant recruitment of approximately 3,500 additional staff, mostly health and social care professional and nursing grades, and will include the implementation of 96 Community Healthcare Networks, 30 Community Specialist Teams for Older Persons and 30 Community Specialist Teams for Chronic Disease Management nationwide.

In Budget 2021, €175million in new measures funding was provided to primary care, with €150m of this allocated for the implementation of the Enhanced Community Care Programme, and €25m to the GP Access to Diagnostics initiative. This initiative provides GPs with a direct referral pathway for their patients to access radiology scans in convenient locations within the community and closer to home, preventing unnecessary referrals to acute based diagnostic services.

In Budget 2022, €1.9 million in new measures funding was allocated to primary care, and, additionally €5.5 million funding was allocated through the Government’s Waiting list Action plan to implement an initiative in Primary Care Psychology services which targets clients under the age of 18 waiting longer than 52 weeks to access the service.

Budget 2023 has apportioned €18.8 million in funding for new measures in primary care, and of this €10 million has been allocated to provide access to IVF and AHR services from September 2023, €4.8M has been allocated to provide oral healthcare packages for 0 -7 year olds in 2023, with funding also provided to allow for the continued expansion of Community Intervention Teams nationwide, with 28 additional WTEs being recruited to these teams in 2023.

These investments and reforms are a demonstration of the commitment to shift the model of healthcare towards a more comprehensive and accessible primary care service in order to deliver better care closer to people’s home in communities across the country.