Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 43: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to change and co-ordinate the operations of the various out-of-hours general practitioner services; if, in particular, it is planned to bring Southdoc under the administration of the Health Service Executive; the way that will affect persons employed in the service in positions other than doctors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46648/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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General Practitioner (GP) out-of-hours co-operatives are an essential part of our primary care services and help to ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, care needs are met in the primary care setting. While there is no obligation on GPs to participate in co-operatives, GPs contracted under the General Medical Services Scheme must make suitable arrangements to enable contact to be made with them (or a locum/deputy) for emergencies outside normal practice hours. Co-operatives provide an ideal facility to enable GPs to discharge this obligation.

There were over 983,000 contacts with GP out-of-hours co-operatives in 2009 and the total cost of funding out-of-hours services was in the region of €110 million.

A National Review of GP Out-of-Hours Services was published by the HSE in March 2010. It is the first national review to be undertaken since the commencement of publicly funded GP co-operatives in 1999. It reviewed the 9 GP co-operatives and the 4 extended-hours services that are currently in place.

The Review makes a series of recommendations designed to strengthen and standardise out-of-hours services across the country, including:

Out-of-hours services to be extended to cover parts of the country where there is currently no such provision. Each of the 4 HSE regions will now engage with non-participating GPs with the aim of ensuring full out-of-hours coverage nationally.

The number of call centres to be reduced from 7 to 4.

A working group comprising representatives from the HSE, the Irish Medical Organisation and the Irish Association of General Practitioner Co-operatives has been established to advance the implementation of the recommendations.

As the aspects of the Deputy's question concerning Southdoc relate to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the HSE, my Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to address these matters and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.