Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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170. To ask the Minister for Health if he is aware of a claim that some general practitioners are charging medical card holders for sick certificates; if this is permissible and on what grounds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13863/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under the General Medical Services (GMS) contract, a general practitioner (GP) is expected to provide his/her patients who hold a medical card or GP visit card with all proper and necessary treatment of a kind generally undertaken by a GP.

Under the contract the GP is required to furnish to a person whom he/she has examined, and for whom he/she is obliged to provide services, a certificate in relation to any illness noticed during the examination which is reasonably required by the patient.

The contract between the HSE and the GP under the GMS Scheme stipulates that fees are not paid to GPs by the HSE in respect of certain medical certificates which may be required, for example, "under the Social Welfare Acts or for the purposes of insurance or assurance policies or for the issue of driving licences".