Debate contribution: Primary Care: Extreme Pressures

Debate contribution by Mrs Linda Dillon on 14 May 2024.

MLA: Mrs Linda Dillon
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 14 May 2024
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Primary Care: Extreme Pressures
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4490279

Text

The motion rightly emphasises the invaluable contributions of those working in primary care across the North, but attention also needs to be drawn to the interconnectedness of primary and social care services, both of which are essential pillars of our healthcare system. Primary care providers, including our GPs, nurses, mental health practitioners and our community pharmacy, play a crucial role in addressing our communities' healthcare needs. However, it is vital to recognise that many individuals who require primary care services also have complex social care needs, and that must be addressed in order to ensure holistic well-being. The challenges that primary care services face, including the strain on local practices that seek crisis support, must not be underestimated. Those challenges are often exacerbated by social determinants of health, such as poverty, homelessness and social isolation, which can impact on an individual's ability to access and engage with healthcare services effectively. I made that point at a meeting today with the strategic planning and performance group (SPPG). It is not a case that people are hard to reach; it is that services are difficult to access for some people. We need to ensure that we deliver services in the places where people need them, and that is in their communities, where they can easily access them. The broader social care landscape must be addressed, and that includes investing in community-based support services, such as social work, physiotherapy and health visiting, which are essential components of a comprehensive primary care system. In order to truly enhance primary care provision, it is vital that we see an increase in social prescribing and, crucially, the ability of health and social care professionals to develop links with early support services — again, it is about the early intervention and prevention services — to protect our people and keep them well, rather than keep them sick. Social prescribers can help to reach more marginalised and vulnerable groups in our communities, and that could have a transformative impact on health inequalities and improve outcomes for the health of our people. I appreciate that the Minister has worked with GPs in recent times to deal with the indemnity issue, and he has come to some interim solutions for that, but we need a long-term solution.
Likewise, it is vital that the Department works closely with our community pharmacists and invests in a sustainable funding model to protect that service.
We must not forget the importance of integrating social care into our primary care strategies, recognising that health and well-being are intrinsically linked to social factors. It is only by doing that that we will genuinely improve health outcomes for all, particularly those in our marginalised and deprived communities.

450 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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