Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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406. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 280 of 10 November 2016, the details of the general practitioner contract; the side which has broken it or not fulfilled their side of it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35835/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under the terms of the GMS contract, GPs are required to be routinely available for consultation by eligible persons at an approved surgery or surgeries and for domiciliary visiting for a total of 40 hours each week on five days or more in the week by agreement with the HSE. The GP's hours of availability must have regard to patients' needs in the locality and these cannot be amended without the agreement of the HSE.

Medical practitioners contracted under the GMS scheme are also required to make suitable arrangements to enable contact with them or a locum/deputy outside normal hours for urgent cases. The HSE would encourage all GMS GPs to be members of GP cooperatives as this ensures a responsive and accessible service for their patients during out-of-hour periods. Where GPs decide not to become members of out-of-hours cooperatives they must still discharge their contractual obligation in terms of out-of-hours provision in accordance with their GMS contract.

The particular issues raised by the Deputy are service matters for the HSE. Accordingly, I have arrange for the question to be referred to the HSE for direct reply to the Deputy.