A system of special incentives will have to be introduced to speed up the provision of primary care centres across the State, according to a report published today.
The report from the Oireachtas Health Committee states that the provision of primary care centres - which are one stop shops in the community where patients can access GPs and a whole range of other health professionals under one roof - are essential if primary care teams now being put in place are to operate at an optimal level and if the 2001 primary care strategy is to be implemented in full.
That strategy promised that 600 primary care teams would be in place by 2011. However just 222 had been put in place by the end of 2009.
The committee's report states that it is now clear "a system of incentives is required to expedite delivery" of primary care centres. It lists a range of possibilities such as tax reliefs, stamp duty reliefs, and rates reliefs which might be considered but says these should be targeted at professionals in primary care teams rather than developers. It wants to avoid "the corporatisation" of the development of new primary care infrastructure.
In all the committee's report makes 40 recommendations. It reiterates the belief expressed in many previous reports that the number of GP training places must be increased in order to ensure there will be sufficient number of doctors to work in primary care teams in the future, which will be expected to take pressure off hospitals by carrying out more diagnostic tests in the community.
It recommends the number of GP training places be expanded immediately to at least 150 a year. It currently stands at 121. It also recommends that the Irish College of General Practitioners be encouraged and resourced to introduce accelerated training programmes for GPs.
The committee's report also recommends that community mental health services be provided through primary care centres to reduce the stigma for those attending and that the centres also act as a base for consultant outreach clinics and increased diagnostic services.
The HSE should also ensure it retains the skills of qualified therapists who would be required to work in primary care teams, it adds.
It also calls for the early introduction of a unique patient identifier to enhance safety and improve efficiency, legislation clarifying eligibility for health and social services and that new primary care centres be subject to independent inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority.
Seán Ó Fearghaíl, the Fianna Fáil chairman of the committee, said he hoped the report would add impetus and drive to the implementation of the 2001 primary care strategy. He said while some progress had been made with the creation of 222 primary care teams, "most of these lack a base and diagnostic services".
Primary care teams, he added, need to be in one single location to be most effective.