Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 208: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when her Department will abolish the mandatory retirement of GMS doctors on age grounds solely as advocated by the Irish Medical Council at its recent congress and outlined recently (details supplied); and if she will put a moratorium on implementing this outdated regulation in the interim. [16489/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Under the General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme general practitioners hold one of two contract types, i.e. the Fee per Item contract (first introduced in 1972) or the Capitation contract (effective from 1989). These contracts reflect the agreed outcome of negotiations between my Department and the GP representative body, the Irish Medical Organisation. Both contract types contain provisions relating to the retirement age. The Capitation contract provides that GPs who entered into contracts on the date of its commencement could hold the contract up to age 70 and that all subsequent GP contractors could hold the contract up to age 65. The Fee per Item contract terminates upon the GP reaching 70 years of age.

In the context of a review of the contractual arrangements for the provision of services under the GMS Scheme and other publicly funded schemes, I have asked my Department, in conjunction with the HSE, to examine provisions relating to the age at which GPs must cease to hold contracts.