Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I probably should have read the concluding statement first because it contains better news. I again thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I appreciate the concern and the issues he has raised, with which I am familiar. While some persons may have been advised recently that the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, would no longer assign any medical cardholders or GP visit cardholders to a GP or general medical services, GMS, panel, as per the previous practice, following the short period whereby urgent assignments were prioritised in advance of the new assignment arrangements, the HSE has confirmed that the assignment process for cardholders is, as of today, back in place. I thank the Deputy for tabling the question. The GP agreement 2023, which was announced in July, does contain assignment arrangements on the assignment of patients to GP panels. However, these arrangements do not prevent the assignment of patients and rather are there to help ensure equitable distribution of assigned patients to GP panels.

The good news is that as of today, the HSE has confirmed that the assignment process for cardholders is back in place. The second piece of information is that the GP agreement will look at equitable distribution of assigned patients to GP panels, which I think everybody could understand. Further to confirming the continuance of the assignment process, as mentioned, the agreement provides for the establishment of a working group which will review the operation of patient assignment to ensure a fair system that has regard to individual GP practices.

The situation for July, August and September has come to an end as of today. It will be business as usual to assign the 1% of people who may not have a doctor. The GP arrangement panel will look to help ensure equitable distribution across all GPs.

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