Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Question 260: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the guidelines in place for medical centres and general practitioners which allow or facilitate medical cards to be used with them (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11427/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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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 arrangements to ensure appropriate service delivery for General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme (medical card and GP visit card) patients.

Services under the GMS Scheme are provided by general practitioners (GPs) holding contracts with the HSE. The terms of these contracts were agreed on foot of negotiations with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO). Under the terms agreed, contracts are made available where the HSE decides, after consultation with the IMO, that there is a need for a service having regard to a range of factors, including whether the needs of the population in the area are met by the services already available. The agreement also provides that the number of persons on a GP's patient panel may not exceed 2,000, save in exceptional circumstances. Not all GPs hold GMS contracts, as they may not qualify or wish to provide services under the Scheme.

When a person qualifies for a medical card or GP visit card, he/she accesses services by choosing a GP from a list of local GPs who have been contracted to provide services under the GMS Scheme. The person will be assigned to the GP he/she has chosen from the list subject to the GP's acceptance and his/her total patient list being within the agreed limit. If a person is unsuccessful in locating a GP who is able to take on additional patients, the HSE may in certain circumstances assign an eligible patient to a medical practitioner's list.

The arrangements for the provision of publicly funded GP services, including those provided under the GMS Scheme, are under review. I regard the existing arrangements in relation to access by GPs to public contracts as unnecessarily restrictive and it is my wish that new contractual arrangements for the provision of publicly-funded GP services should ensure that HSE contracts are open to all suitably qualified and equipped doctors.

As aspects of the Deputy's question relate to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive, my Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have this matter addressed and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.