Cavan GP calls for ""beefing up"" of Primary Care

As the North East Doctor on Call service passes the 500,000 mark in patient consultations a leading County Cavan GP has called for a substantial ""beefing up"" of the Primary Care sector. Dr. Garret Igoe of the Virginia Primary Care Team stated to The Anglo Celt this week that the emphasis for a long time in Ireland was on the hospital care sector but if there was intervention at an earlier level the burden of expensive hospital care could be reduced. Dr. Igoe said that the structured treatment of many patients by teams of professionals working together at Primary Care level was the best model of care. He particularly referred to patients affected by diabetes and heart disease and said that the treatment of such patients in a co-ordinated and systematic way at Primary Care level was the most ideal method. Speaking on the role of the Virginia Primary Care Team in providing health care for the people of the Virginia catchment, Dr. Igoe stressed the importance of the teamwork involved between the different health professionals. The Team has three GPs, a Practice Nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, public health nurse and other support personnel including a Home Care Co-ordinator. ""We all meet on Monday morning at 8.30 am for an hour at which we review the patient needs which are of mutual interest to us. It could be terminal care cases or anybody discharged from hospital after a stroke. Members of the Primary Care Team work out a package of care for that person and it usually works well"", said Dr. Igoe. All of the Virginia Primary Care Team work in the one building, the Virginia Health Centre and are also linked to each other by the same information technology system. As a result there is basic data that is shared between all of the Team members. Garret Igoe says that a beefing up of the Primary Care sector would mean that work which up to now had to be undertaken at hospital level could be undertaken at Primary level. He says that Ireland has been a little bit slow in waking up to the realisation of the importance of Primary Care. The ?hospital is the thing which grabs the headlines but the new thinking is linked in with Professor Drumm?s plans to transform the Health Service. ""Professor Drumm wants to improve services in the community and make people less reliant on hospitals. The development of Primary Care services also facilitates earlier discharge from hospital and with Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists on the team you can rehabilitate people at home he says"", states Dr. Igoe. The Virginia Primary Health Care Team was one of the first to be established in the country by the HSE as part of its new Primary Care Programme. Garret Igoe points out that many practices are now providing the range of services that they are providing, including Heart Watch and Diabetes control. He says that the HSE are employing other personnel with work with practices but there were a few difficulties as to where those personnel would be located. The HSE were locating them on a geographical basis but in his view it would be best if they were appointed on a practice basis as it meant that everyone would be registered with the one team.