Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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461. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 571 of 31 January 2017, if he will alter the general practitioner visit card scheme to allow certificate of fitness to drive assessments on the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5995/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under the terms of the GMS and GP visit card contracts, fees are not paid to GPs 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".

Consultation fees charged by GPs outside the terms of the GMS or GP Visit Card contracts are a matter of private contract between the clinicians and their patients. I have no role in relation to such fees, however I would expect clinicians to have regard to the overall economic situation in setting their fees.

There are no plans at present to include certificates of fitness to drive under the GMS or GP visit card schemes.