Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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606. To ask the Minister for Health if he sought and received financial approval for an increase in the rural general practitioner practice allowance scheme from the Department of Finance or the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform prior to his announcement of an extension to the scheme in January 2016; the cost of the extension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6273/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to ensuring that patients throughout the country continue to have access to GP services, especially in remote, rural areas and also in certain urban areas, and that general practice is sustainable in such areas into the future. There has been a positive engagement between the HSE, the Department and the IMO on a set of proposals for enhanced rural GP practice support and an updated list of special items of service. These proposals arise from the current phase of discussions on the modernisation of the GMS GP contract. It is estimated that the additional costs in 2016 of the proposed revised rural practice support framework will be approximately €3 million. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 (as amended), it is my intention to make regulations with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to give effect to the above proposals.