Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter and I appreciate she has raised it in the past. The Health Act 1970 provides that persons who are unable, without undue hardship, to arrange GP medical services for themselves and their family can qualify for a medical or GP visit card. The Senator is obviously aware of that. These services are provided for under the general medical services, GMS, scheme through which the HSE contracts GPs to provide medical services to medical and GP visit card holders.

Under the terms of the current GMS contract, GPs are required to provide eligible patients with all proper and necessary treatment of a kind usually undertaken by a general practitioner and not requiring a special skill or experience of a degree or kind which general practitioners cannot reasonably be expected to possess. The HSE reimburses GPs for services provided under the GMS contract and medical and GP visit card holders are not subject to any charges in respect of such medical services, including the cost of GP consultations.

The contract stipulates that fees in respect of certain medical certificates which may be required, for example, under the Social Welfare Acts or for the purposes of insurance policies or the issuing of driving licences, are not covered by the contract. Obviously, the Senator is already aware of that. GPs are private practitioners. Accordingly, any fees charged by them for services provided outside of the terms of the GMS contract are a matter of private contract between the GP and their patients. It seems that is the area that should be concentrated on. This includes medical reports required for driver licence applications.

The requirements for the submission of a medical report from a registered medical practitioner with driving licence applications for certain categories of persons, including those aged 75 and over, is governed by the National Driver Licence Service, NDLS, and the Department of Transport. There are no plans, I understand, to include the completion of medical reports required for driving licence applications as a service to be provided to GMS patients by GPs under the GMS or GP visit card schemes which focus on services for the treatment of patients.

Nevertheless, I can see what the Senator is talking about when she mentioned the fact that the cost is quite prohibitive. The matter of a charge of €65, in particular in the case of a licence renewal every three years, is something I can bring back to the Department and Minister. I thank her for her contribution today.