This article is from page 22 of the 2008-09-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
A NEW model for the delivery of health care in the county could see Clare people getting the majority of their health care services in the local town or even in their own home.
Representative from the North Clare Primary Care Team addressed last night’s meeting of Clare County Council, and asked for the council- lors to help them develop primary care units throughout the county.
“It’s about providing health care in the community rather than acute hospital services. Where you have a strong care system as part of your health service it has been shown that people live longer and are healthier. We also fell that this 1s a much more cost effective way of delivering a health care service,” said Dr Fergus Glynn of the North Clare Primary Care Team.
The North Clare Primary Care Team covers the Ballyvaughan, Corofin and Lisdoonvarna areas and provides a forum for practitioners in these areas to work together when dealing with patient illnesses.
To date a the service team have found that the waiting times have
come down significantly for anumber of services including physiotherapy.
The group was asked to address the council meeting by north Clare Councillor Martin Conway (FG).
‘The work that they are doing for the most part has been going under the radar. The best strategy is to help people in their home, in their com- munity, to get well,’ he said.
“It’s cost efficient, it’s innovative and it’s what communities are all about. We need to forge links be- tween the health care which is being delivered around the county and the local authority. If this gets proper Support, if it is financed it could revolutionise the provision of health care in north Clare.”
Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) also proposed that Clare County Council should write to the Health Service Execu- tive requesting that primary care be properly funded in Clare.
“There has been a lot of talk about primary care and in a lot of areas there has been little action so I am glad that north Clare is taking the lead. I’m not sure if people realise it but 60 per cent of funding goes to non-hospital services. It’s about joined up thinking,” he said.