Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask about the sequencing of Sláintecare. One of the foundation recommendations in the report is to expand universal primary care to the entire population. The report outlines that the expansion of services cannot take place until we have adequate GP manpower on the ground to deliver it. While it recommended a roll-out of 500,000 a year, this was only to happen once capacity was available within general practice. We are talking about whole-time equivalents. We know the number of GPs on the Medical Council register and who have a GMS contract. They may not all be whole-time equivalents and the capacity issue relates to the number of whole-time equivalent GPs delivering a service in the system.

As the Minister is aware, a significant number of practices are not taking on any new patients because they cannot deliver the service. For safety reasons they have closed their lists. The Minister has come to an agreement with the IMO on restoration of funding, but that may not necessarily deal with the manpower issue. In order to deliver free GP care to different cohorts of people, such as those aged up to eight, ten or 12, we need the capacity to deliver it. While the Sláintecare report proposed delivering 500,000 new patients to free GP care each year, it was only provided the capacity was there. There has been no move to increase GP capacity.