Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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208. To ask the Minister for Health the number of general practitioners practising here; the extent to which this number has fluctuated in the past ten years; the extent to which demographic trends are affecting requirements in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41181/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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While no central register exists specifically for GPs working in Ireland, all doctors in practice in Ireland must be registered with the Medical Council. A number of sources provide data on GPs working in Ireland at present. The Medical Council collects and analyses data from the general, specialist and trainee specialist registers to produce valuable data on the GP workforce. The HSE Primary Care Reimbursement Service collects data on the number of GMS contract-holders and those GPs delivering state-funded primary care services. The Irish College of General Practitioners also collects and analyses data on the GP workforce, including the number of doctors registered for professional competence and those holding membership of the ICGP.

As of 19 September 2017, there are 3,556 doctors on the Medical Council's Specialist Register in the Speciality of General Practice. Holding registration does not, however, necessarily mean that a medical practitioner is active in general practice at the time. In the last ten years, the number of GPs contracted by the HSE to provide services to medical card holders and GP visit card holders under the GMS scheme has increased. At the end of 2007 there were 2,129 GPs who held GMS contracts. As of 1 September 2017, there are 2,496 GPs who hold GMS contracts. Many GPs also hold contracts with the HSE to provide services under other state schemes, e.g. the Primary Childhood Immunisation Programme. There are a further 437 GPs at 1 September 2017 without GMS contracts who hold other such contracts with the HSE, bringing the total number of GPs contracted by the HSE at present to 2,993.

The Government is committed to the continued development of GP capacity to ensure that patients across the country continue to have access to GP services and that general practice is sustainable in all areas into the future. Several efforts to increase the number of practising GPs have been undertaken in recent years. These include changes to the entry provisions to the GMS scheme to accommodate more flexible/shared GMS/GP contracts, and to the retirement provisions for GPs under the GMS scheme, allowing GPs to hold GMS contracts until their 72nd birthday, as well as the introduction of enhanced supports for rural GP practices. These steps should help to address the future demand for GPs by enticing GPs who may have ceased practicing for family or other reasons back into the workforce, facilitating GPs to work past the standard retirement age and encouraging more GPs to work in rural areas. Separately, the State is seeking to train more GPs to provide GP services to the population. In 2009, there were 120 GP training places and in 2017 there were 170 training places filled. The Government is committed to further increasing this number to 259 places annually in future years.

In September 2015, the HSE published a medical workforce planning report entitledMedical Workforce Planning - Future Demand for General Practitioners 2015 - 2025. The report identified a current unmet service demand of around 500 GPs, and estimatedthat there will be a shortage of around 493 GPs in Ireland by 2025 if the impact of population ageing on GP consultation rates alone is considered. This estimate was based on the assumption that there would be no inward migration of GPs and that the GP training intake would remain at the 2015 level of 157 training places annually. As I have indicated, the Government is committed to increasing GP trainee places on a phased basis.