Mr. Val Moran:

The Senator asked about out-of-hours services in other jurisdictions. Ten years ago, England separated the daytime contract from the out-of-hours contracts and it caused a lot of difficulties. The out-of-hours service became a bit more corporatised with non-daytime GPs working within it and a lot of the work was just referred back to the daytime service. People also had difficulties with access. There are difficulties with out-of-hours services in all jurisdictions. A review is the first step to ensuring there is uniformity and equity for all GPs and the co-ops that they are a part of. It is not an easy problem and it is one that needs to be looked at but a review would be the starting point for that. There was a HSE review five or six years ago but I am not sure if it was ever published. It certainly needs to be looked at afresh now with regard to how the individual GP commits to that service and pays into it.

On attracting GPs from abroad, the things that will attract GPs from Ireland to take up positions are the same as those that will attract GPs from abroad. It is dependent on putting in place the incentives that we have spoken about.