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120 Primary Care Centres now open as Minister Harris opens Celbridge and updates on national progress

20180625 Primary Care Celbridge

Minister for Health Simon Harris officially opened Celbridge Primary Care Centre in Co. Kildare saying that the centre shows how

that the move toward primary and community care is becoming a reality.

Minister Harris said,

Primary Care Centres have a key role to play in delivering on our vision of a reformed health service and can deliver better care, closer to people’s homes in their local communities.

I am pleased to see the very welcome expansion of services that is taking place within primary care, including the recruitment of additional Occupational Therapists; Speech and Language Therapists; and Psychologists and Assistant Psychologists.

There will be continued investment in both the development of primary care infrastructure and services in the months and years ahead so that we can shift more care out of hospitals and into the community, and in line with the Sláintecare reforms.

There are now 120 operational PCCs around the country, and the Minister noted that even as he was officially opening the Celbridge facility, another centre in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, had become operational. A total of 12 centres have become operational so far in 2018 and a further seven are scheduled to become operational by the end of the year. (See note for editors.)