KENNY CALLS FOR ACTION ON CLONGRIFFIN PRIMARY CARE CENTRE

Posted on November 10, 2011 4:13 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Dublin North East Labour T.D., Seán Kenny today spoke in the Dáil during the debate on the Health (Provision of General Practitioner Services) Bill, and raised the issue of the Primary Care Centre in Clongriffin.

"The legislation provides that suitably qualified general practitioners setting up practice will not only be able to treat private patients but will also be able to treat patients holding both GP visit cards and full medical cards. There will be no limit on the number of contractors. This legislation is being introduced as a result of the commitment in the EU-IMF programme which required the introduction of legislative changes to remove restrictions to trade and competition in sheltered sectors, including eliminating restrictions on GPs wishing to treat public patients. These restrictions have had a detrimental effect on younger, properly qualified GPs to set up in practice and deliver care and service to their community.

"I would like to take this opportunity to raise the matter of the provision of a GP service in the North City Fringe part of my constituency in Dublin North East through a proposal to provide a Primary Care Centre in the Clongriffin / Coast area.

"With the proposal to develop the Dublin North City Fringe / and the Fingal Baldoyle / Coast area for residential and commercial development with the granting of planning permissions in 2002 and subsequent appeals to An Bord Pleanala. The ERHA first proposed in 2004, at a meeting with local public representatives that a state-of-the-art primary care centre would be required for the North Fringe area to cater for the future needs of the new community. It was planned that the Primary Care Centre of 19,500 square feet in size would incorporate GPs, Public Health Nursing, OT, Physiotherapy, Social Work, and other services.

"By 2007 there was a considerable number of new residents in the area and they began to demand answers as to when the Primary Care Centre would be in place. A pharmacy then opened in a unit at Clongriffin town centre with the expectation that their business would be viable once the Primary Care Centre was opened. The slowness in completing the Clongriffin DART Station was a delaying factor for some time - the rail station was eventually opened in the early part of last year.

"The plan up to that point was that the Primary Care Infrastructure Initiative scheme would allow GPs to provide to the HSE accommodation, which is suitable for the provision of Primary Care Team services. In return the HSE would enter into a 25 year lease with the preferred providers for accommodation occupied by the HSE. This agreement was subject to various conditions but one principle condition is that the preferred provider must secure that a minimum number of General Practice Doctors servicing GMS patients in the locality would operate out of the same building as the HSE under the banner of the Primary Care Centre.

"In the early part of 2010, when I was a local authority member of the Health Service Executive Dublin North East Regional Health Forum, it became apparent that there was a breakdown in discussions between the Health Service Executive and a group of General Practice Doctors in relation to the opening of the proposed Clongriffin Primary Care Centre, in a unit provided by Gannon Homes, under the Primary Care Infrastructure Initiative scheme.

"Unfortunately, hopes that the promised Primary Care Centre would be put in place were dashed when the General Practice Doctors who had previously declared their support for the Clongriffin Primary Care Centre withdrew from the process. Following the withdrawal of the General Practice Doctors, the HSE were no longer in a position to proceed with a lease agreement for Primary Care Centre accommodation at this location under the Primary Care Infrastructure Initiative scheme.

"The Health Service Executive subsequently informed the Dublin North East Regional Health Forum members, that a potential new location for a Primary Care Unit for the Baldoyle / Clongriffin area has been identified at Myrtle Court, off Grange Road and that advanced negotiations were taking place between the Health Service Executive and a major Health Care provider over the previous six months. It was stated then that construction could commence in early 2011, subject to planning permission, and site acquisition. This has not happened and I have not received any further update since.

"Because of this uncertainty the pharmacist in Clongriffin was forced to close, leaving the Clongriffin area without the services of a chemist. The economic downturn was also a factor in the slow uptake of the commercial units in Clongriffin Town Centre, and the hope was that the opening of a Primary Care Centre together with the new DART station would provide a much needed stimulus essential for the success and future viability of Clongriffin.

"I would ask the Minister to intervene with the Health Service Executive to ensure that the proposed Primary Care Centre for Clongriffin / Coast area of Dublin North East is put back on the agenda, and that a timescale for its implementation be provided as a matter of urgency."