Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very open to the idea of the HSE directly employing GPs. It is something we should pursue. We know there are some areas in particular that are affected, such as rural areas. For example, I am involved at the moment with an issue in certain parts of Galway concerning out-of-hours GP coverage. There is a role for directly employed GPs in some urban areas, in particular areas that are less well-off where the GPs are struggling.

There has been a significant expansion of training places. In 2010, there were 109 training places. This year, there are nearly 260, and we are on our way up to 350. We can go further. There is room for radical thinking. The Deputy may have heard me say recently that we should probably be looking at doubling the number of college places for healthcare professionals right across the board and increasing the training places to support the placements for the college places.

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