The Government was accused yesterday of failing to deliver a primary healthcare strategy announced three years ago.
Delegates to the biennial conference of Impact's health and welfare division in Kilkenny were told that the Primary Care Strategy, launched in 2002, promised a primary care unit for every 5,000 people.
The units were to provide services from health promotion and screening to assessment, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
They were to give communities access to physiotherapists, occupational therapists, midwives, home helps, social and care workers, doctors and nurses.
However, three years later, there were no plans to build on the 10 pilot projects established by the previous minister for health, Micheál Martin, the conference was told.
Cliona Quaid, a member of Impact's health and welfare divisional executive, said the promise of community-based primary healthcare had effectively been shelved and had been shown to be "meaningless".
Less than 2.5 per cent of the population was benefiting from the 10 pilot projects.
"Not surprisingly, everyone welcomed the strategy. Not surprisingly, everyone asked when they would benefit from it. The simple answer to that question is: probably never," she claimed.
Impact national secretary Kevin Callinan said the strategy was undeliverable without substantial investment in staff.
On a separate issue, the conference passed a motion condemning the Government's recent decision to relocate the Central Mental Hospital to the same site as the proposed new prison in north Co Dublin.
"The move only serves to re-enforce the myth and stigma that all those with a psychiatric illness are criminals," it said.
