Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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561. To ask the Minister for Health if he will outline all fees and allowances applicable to GPs, including those not included in the GMS scheme; if he will provide a breakdown of the cost of each fee/allowance per annum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15977/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The HSE pays fees and allowances to GPs under a range of schemes. The current rates of payment are set out in the following Regulations:

S.I. 277/2013 - Health Professionals (Reduction of Payments to General Practitioners) Regulations 2013, which came into effect on 24th July 2013;

S.I. 278/2013 - Health Professionals (Reduction of Payments to General Practitioners) (National Immunisation Programmes) Regulations 2013, which came into effect on 24th July 2013;

S.I. 510/2010 - Health Professionals (Reduction of Payments in respect of Services under the National Cervical Screening Programme) Regulations 2010, which came into effect on 29th October 2010.

Payments are also made to certain GPs in relation to opioid substitution treatment (predominantly methadone). GPs undergo specific training, organised by the HSE, through the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), in order to provide methadone services to opioid dependent individuals. There are two levels of training:

Level 1 GPs may only treat stabilised patients;

Level 2 GPs may initiate treatment and can provide services to a greater number of opioid dependant patients.

The HSE pays Level 1 GPs €159.97 per client per month for opioid substitution treatment and Level 2 GPs are paid €176.43 per client per month. GPs who provide opioid substitution treatment in clinics are paid €71.50 per hour.

As the breakdown of the cost of every fee/allowance per annum is not routinely provided to the Department by the HSE, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy on these matters. However, much of the information for 2012 (with the exception of the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme) is available in the Primary Care Reimbursement Service's (PCRS) most recently published report, Statistical Analysis of Claims and Payments 2012 (pages 9 and 72). This is available online at: