Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy very much for the question. It is a hugely important issue. I pay tribute to GPs and everyone working with them in general practice for the extraordinary work they have done through the pandemic and of late in stepping up around the Christmas period for the booster vaccines. They have been absolutely incredible.

There are capacity challenges facing general practice. There are access challenges for patients. As the Deputy rightly said, it can be quite variable in different parts of the country. One of the areas I am particularly concerned about is that the waits are especially bad in some lower-income areas. That is something that must be looked at as well. Steps we have taken recently in co-operation with general practice include the chronic disease management programme, which is going very well, and GP direct access, which is going very well and is helping with a lot of access. They are having a transformative impact in the delivery of quality care in the community that general practice is able to provide. However, as the Deputy quite rightly said, much more must be done.

The 2019 agreement with GPs was an important step in restoring general practice as an attractive option for medical graduates. What impact has there been so far? The number in training has increased quite a lot. In 2009, there were 120 coming out of training; last year, there were 233. We have further to go but it is a significant increase. The transfer of responsibility for training to the Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP, was completed last year. That is a really important step.

We are also committed, under the 2019 agreement, to undertake a strategic review of general practice. This should have started before now but it was delayed by Covid. Work on the review is going to commence this year. The review will examine a wide range of issues affecting general practice and set out the measures necessary to deliver a sustainable service in the coming years.

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