Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, I do. I accept all those issues. Certainly, the conversations I have had with GPs and members of the Irish Medical Organisation reflect all of that. We need to be flexible. From the conversations I have had with GPs, many of the younger GPs, and some of the more urban-based ones, are very interested in being in primary care centres, multidisciplinary teams and a lot of the innovation around eHealth. Interestingly, some of the older GPs I have spoken to who might be in more rural areas are quite happy with their situation. They want to keep going, but there is flexibility they do not have, such as splitting GMS lists.

The Deputy talked about the business model. There is a real issue with the GMS. GPs say to me that in many cases they lose money on the GMS list. It is income that comes into the practice, but where they make their profit and get to pay their wages is on private patients. If we are moving towards more and more people being able to access GP care for free, that is something we will have to deal with. If we are asking GPs to come into areas, which we must, where the majority of patients are GMS patients, we need to think about that. It cannot be more profitable for GPs to work in well-to-do areas than in lower income areas. That just does not work because lower income areas will not have enough GPs.

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