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Report calls for more local health care

Thursday, 06 May 2010

GRANGEGORMAN and the North Inner City are seriously lacking in primary and community health care services, according to a detailed report published last month. The Grangegorman Neighbourhood and Primary Care Area Health Needs Assessment found that the area is in short supply of GPs and dentists in general as well as health professionals who will accept medical card patients. The 92-page report also indicates that public health nurses, social workers, home help services and home care packages are also lacking in the area, which is populated by 34,000 people. The aim of the extensive report is to determine what future health facilities and services should be established in the area, particularly in terms of the redevelopment of the 73-acre Grangegorman site. The Health Service Executive (HSE) commissioned the report in conjunction with the North West Inner Network and the Grangegorman Development Agency. The information was gathered from community consultation evenings, household surveys, interviews and focus groups. The report highlighted that waiting times for appointments and to see health care professionals is a significant problem among local residents. “The time it takes to get an appointment and the long period between the getting of an appointment and the appointment date were identified as key difficulties for local people seeking to access more specialist health services (including mental health, addiction, physiotherapy, OT, ophthalmic and speech and language services),” the report states. The study also found that there is a high level of addiction in the area. “The main addiction was to alcohol but people also used cannabis, soft drugs and prescription medicines often in connection with one another,” it states. “It was felt that anti drugs education in schools was not forceful enough and the dangers of drugs were not being communicated sufficiently to children.” The assessment also identified that there is an absence of family support services in the area. Recommendations contained within the report include a call for greater levels of co-ordination between the different elements of the health service. It was also advised that a single information and monitoring system be developed across all areas of the health service, where an individual’s health records are accessible to all the health professionals treating them. “Increase the number of private health care providers that accept medical card holders and, where necessary, target and incentivise private health practitioners that accept medical cardholders to locate services in the area,” the report suggests. Health Policy Analyst Sara Burke officially launched the assessment. “This report provides an excellent overview of the range of heath and social care services provided in the area,” she said. “Despite having a large number of providers, the residents and service providers in the area agree that the residents here are under-provided for especially when it comes to primary and community care services.” Anne O’Connor, HSE local health manager for Dublin West also spoke during the launch. “The findings from the assessment will assist in developing health services in the re-developed Grangegorman site, and in the area generally,” she explained. “The findings provide strong support for the implementation of the Primary Care Strategy and the roll-out of primary care teams in this area.”