Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

The onus is on the individual to come forward to the general practitioner, not on the GP to find the patient. There is a good relationship between GPs and their patients, although I have heard some general practitioners say they are not in a position to identify the at-risk patients. That surprises me because we hope that under the new contract for general practice that we will be able to manage chronic illness at general practice level. The onus is on the patient to come forward.

The Department advised the HSE because, given the volume of vaccine that was coming, and the advice of the expert group in August and early September, it had not been decided whether to involve general practice at that point. That advice was from the chief medical officer and those involved in the arrangements in the Department. The advice was to engage with the ICGP because it is the standards body while the IMO is the representative organisation and, generally, in matters to do with clinical issues, training and education, the college is involved.

We are in a pandemic and the onus is on all of us to work together. This is a small country and the State has arrangements to procure the vaccine for every citizen in the State free of charge. If GPs want to administer it free of charge I would be happy to hear it. If that is also the case for other vaccines we want to introduce, I will be the first to jump on the offer. The onus is on the patient to come forward, lest there be any doubt.

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