Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

He is working 24-7 on all sorts of issues across the board. It is an extremely important portfolio.

The Government is committed to the continued development of GP capacity to ensure that patients across the country continue to have access to GP services, especially in remote rural areas and in disadvantaged urban areas, and that general practice is sustainable in all areas into the future. We wish to ensure that existing GP services are retained and that general practice remains an attractive career option for newly qualified GPs. As of 1 July last, 2,491 GPs held General Medical Services, GMS, contracts with the HSE and this is continuing to increase year on year. A further 438 GPs hold other contracts to provide services such as immunisation, the national Heartwatch programme, methadone and cancer screening.

The HSE, based on the demographic profile of current GMS GPs, expects that approximately 157 GPs may retire on age grounds between 2017 and 2021. Efforts undertaken in recent years to increase the number of practising GPs include changes to the entry provisions to the GMS scheme to accommodate more flexible shared GMS GP contracts and to the retirement provisions for GPs under the GMS scheme, allowing GPs to hold GMS contracts until their 72nd birthday, as well as the introduction of enhanced supports for rural GP practices. These steps should help to address the future demand for GPs by enticing GPs who may have ceased practising for family or other reasons back into the workforce, facilitating GPs to work past the standard retirement age and encouraging more GPs to work in rural areas.

Separately, the State is seeking to train more GPs to provide GP services to the population. A Programme for a Partnership Government commits us to increasing the number of GP training places to 259 annually. In 2009 there were 120 places available and in 2017 there are 186. This is an increase of 55% in seven years. The Minister is anxious to achieve further increases in the number of GP training places in future years and officials from the Department of Health are working closely with the HSE and the Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP, to ensure that all available places are filled to meet the future manpower needs of general practice.

I accept the point that there are many challenges facing those in general practice. That is why the Minister has repeatedly emphasised the need for a new GP services contract which will help modernise our health service and develop a strengthened primary care sector. Health service management has already progressed a number of significant measures through engagement with GP representatives in recent years. These include the introduction of a diabetes cycle of care for adult patients with type 2 diabetes, an enhanced support framework for rural GPs, which is expected to double the number of qualifying GPs to approximately 330, and a revised list of special items of service under the contract to encourage the provision of more services in the primary care setting. These measures, combined with the children under six and the over-70s initiatives, will increase the financial support for general practice.

The next phase of engagement on a new GP contract is under way and the sustainability of general practice in rural areas will be considered in this context. The process will also seek to introduce further measures aimed at making general practice a fulfilling and rewarding career option into the future.

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