Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 39: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to review the general practitioner out of hours services; if she is involved in this review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41874/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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General Practitioner (GP) out-of-hours co-operatives are an essential part of our primary care services and help to ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, care needs are met in the primary care setting. While there is no obligation on GPs to participate in co-operatives, GPs contracted under the General Medical Services Scheme must make suitable arrangements to enable contact to be made with them (or a locum/deputy) for emergencies outside normal practice hours. Co-operatives provide an ideal facility to enable GPs to discharge this obligation.

There were over 983,000 contacts with GP out-of-hours co-operatives in 2009 and the total cost of funding out-of-hours services was €110 million.

A National Review of GP Out-of-Hours Services was published by the HSE in March 2010. It is the first national review to be undertaken since the commencement of publicly funded GP co-operatives in 1999. It reviewed the 9 GP co-operatives and the 4 extended-hours services that are currently in place.

The Review makes a series of recommendations designed to strengthen and standardise out-of-hours services across the country. Among these recommendations are that:

out-of-hours services be extended to cover parts of the country where there is currently no such provision. Each of the 4 HSE regions will now engage with non-participating GPs with the aim of ensuring full out-of-hours coverage nationally.

the number of call centres be reduced from 7 to 4.

A working group comprising representatives from the HSE, the Irish Medical Organisation and the Irish Association of General Practitioner Co-operatives has been established to advance the implementation of the recommendations.