Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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787. To ask the Minister for Health if house calls by a patient's general practitioner are covered under the medical card scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42079/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Under the General Medical Services (GMS) contract, GPs must be available to provide services in their practice premises or by way of domiciliary visits, as appropriate, for their medical card and GP visit card patients, for 40 hours each week.

They must also make arrangements to enable contact to be made with them, or a locum/deputy, for emergencies outside of these hours. It is a matter for the GP to decide whether it is appropriate to see the patient in his/her surgery or in the patient's home based on the clinical need, social and other circumstances in any particular case.

GP out-of-hours co-operatives allow general practitioners to put in place arrangements to provide services to their patients outside normal surgery hours in the evening, on weekends and bank holidays. GP out-of-hours co-operatives are now in place in all HSE areas, providing coverage in all or in part of all counties.

Persons who contact GP out-of-hours co-operatives are prioritised as either emergency, urgent or routine. In emergency cases, a triage nurse will organise the appropriate care for the patient and will generally arrange for the dispatch of an ambulance and/or duty doctor. For non-emergency calls a triage nurse carries out a structured assessment by telephone of the patient's symptoms, after which home care advice may be provided or the nurse may make an appointment for the patient to be seen by the duty doctor at a treatment centre or, if necessary, a home visit may be arranged.