Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 217: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the way general practitioner practices are currently regulated; the way the number is determined; the number of doctors currently in GP practice and the number of doctors in GP practice in wholetime equivalent terms; the way the number of GPs per capita here compares with the typical per capita number in other EU countries; if she is satisfied that the regulatory regime is delivering a sufficient number of GPs to allow demand be met within a reasonable timeframe; and the actions she is taking to ensure that GPs are available to the public at reasonably short notice. [26329/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Medical Council is the statutory body charged with responsibility for the registration of all medical practitioners, including General Practitioners, and the regulation of their activities. The function of the Medical Council is to protect the public through implementing appropriate standards and controls on the medical profession. All doctors practising medicine in Ireland must be registered with the Medical Council.

General practitioners are self-employed and my Department does not collect official statistics on the number of such doctors in practice or the hours they work. Information from the Health Service Executive (HSE) indicates that in 2006 some 2,100 GPs held a General Medical Services (GMS) contract for service with the Executive.

General Practitioner vocational training is conducted under the auspices of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) through vocational training programmes funded by the Health Service Executive (HSE). Since 2005 an additional €6 million has been provided to enable the creation of 36 additional GP training places. There are now 12 GP training programmes in place, involving a total of 120 GP training places, and these programmes are accredited by the ICGP. It has been agreed between my Department, the HSE and the ICGP that the number of GP training places per year should be increased to 150 as soon as possible. I understand that the HSE has also indicated its intention to begin a more detailed exercise to examine longer-term GP manpower requirements and how these can be addressed.

Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has the responsibility to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. This includes responsibility for arranging for the provision of general practitioner services to persons covered by the GMS Scheme.

At present the HSE is required, under the terms of the agreement negotiated with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), when deciding to fill a vacant GP patient panel or to create a new patient panel, to take account of the potential viability of such a panel under a range of headings.

I regard the existing arrangements in this regard as unnecessarily restrictive and it is my wish, therefore, that new contractual arrangements, which are to be developed for the provision of publicly funded general practitioner services, should ensure that HSE contracts are open to all suitably qualified and equipped doctors.

GPs who hold a GMS contract with the HSE undertake under these arrangements to provide general practitioner services for their assigned patients for a total of 40 hours, to cover surgery and domiciliary visits, on five or more days per week, as agreed with the Executive. They are also obliged to put in place arrangements that enable contact to be made with them or a deputy/locum for emergencies outside these times.

GP out-of-hours co-operatives are now available in all HSE areas, providing coverage in all or in part of all counties. In 2007, almost €37 million is available to the HSE to fund the operation of GP out-of-hours co-ops. This figure does not include the fees of the participating doctors.